the cousin Sheldon never mentioned
by tanakahal
Summary: !DISCONTINUED!When an accident causes Sheldon's cousin to fly in from Texas, everyone is surprised by how important "Moonpie" is to her, and how important she is to him. If she's allowed to call him Moonpie, she must be special. She's also special in another way, she makes Sheldon and Penny realize how much they love each other. SHENNY
1. Chapter 1

**A/N I do not own TBBT or any part of it (even though I really wish I did!) This is my first fanfiction so please review and remember, I'm new to this so pretty please go easy on me! :) I will try to get the next chapter up soon...**

Anne stood in line at the bank tapping her foot and she looked at her watch. 6:24 pm. She barely heard her cell phone ring quietly and she wondered how long it had been ringing. She dug it out of the bottom of her purse and answered it.

"Hello?" she said. "This is she... No sir, I live in Texas, why? Yes, my cousin is Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper, why on earth do you need to know?" when she got the answer to her question she felt her knees weaken. "No, no, no, not Shelly. Not Moonpie!" After what happened to her parents she couldn't let the same happen to Sheldon. "He can't drive, how could he be in a car accident? Is he alright?" her vision began to blur and she reached out for the wall to support herself. "Tell me, is he okay?" She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. How could this be happening?

"D-did you call his friends? I know his roommate is Leonard… Oh you called family first, okay. That makes sense, family first and all." Now she was rambling in a state of panic like she always did. "Yes, you should call Leonard Hofstadter, h-o-f-s-t-a-d-t-e-r. But wait, if Shelly was in a car accident and Leonard wasn't driving, then who was?" At this point, Anne was out of the bank line and headed towards the door.

"Rajesh Koothrappali?" the name meant nothing to her, but she was still concerned for Rajesh's well-being. "Well, is he okay?" She unlocked her car and climbed inside of it. "He's fine? Okay, okay, everything's okay…" she hung up the phone and started her car. She drove down the road towards Sheldon's mother's house. Anne was having a panic attack, the only things going through her head were the words of the paramedic who called her: "Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper, car accident, badly injured." Her eyes welled up with tears and she felt them drip down her red cheeks. She wiped them away and tried desperately not to sob while she was driving. She wondered who knew, who had been called before her? Shelly's mother, Aunt Mary, no doubt had been informed. Missy would have been called before Anne, no wait, she was on vacation in Hawaii. They probably couldn't reach her. Had they called Meemaw?

She drove into Mary's driveway and jumped out of the car. She ran up to the front door and wiped away her tears with the collar of her shirt. She pounded on the door and Mary called from inside cheerfully: "It's open!"

Anne pushed the door open and found her aunt opening a cola. "A-a-aunt Mary? Aren't you upset?" she blurted out.

"Anne? What would I be upset about?" she asked and set down her cola.

"Didn't you get the phone call?" Anne asked.

"The phone line's down, sweetie. What call are you talking about?"

"Shelly…" It was the only thing Anne managed to get out of her mouth before the tears began to drip out of her eyes again. Mary ran over to her and set her hand on Anne's shoulder.

"What about Sheldon?" she asked, her tone now serious.

"He's been in an accident…a car accident!" Mary's eyes got bigger and she took a deep breath. She grabbed her purse and pulled Anne out of the house. She silently locked the house door behind her and pulled Anne into her car. Mary started the engine and the two women looked at each other, and without a word they drove towards the airport.

* * *

Earlier that day, at lunch...

"So I'm the one who get's to drive the whackadoodle home?" Raj confirmed with Leonard and Howard as they sat down at their normal table in the cafeteria.

"Yeah, I'm sorry Raj, but Howard and I have to go to the comic book store to get the 'whackadoodle' another copy of the new _Flash_. Sheldon says one of us stole it but I know he just lost it. We have to go buy him another one or else he'll be even more of a pain in the ass," Leonard explained.

"Sorry buddy," Howard said to Raj as Sheldon sat down next to Leonard.

"Sorry about what?" Sheldon questioned.

"It's nothing," Leonard told him. Sheldon shrugged and began a pointless (well, it wasn't pointless to Sheldon but it was to the other three men sitting at the table) lecture about the history of forks.

* * *

Raj glanced at the clock on his computer screen. 5:02. _Oh goodie,_ he thought sarcastically. _Time to drive Sheldon home._

He got his things together and shut off his computer. He got up and switched off the lights in his office. He walked into the hall and as he was locking the door behind him when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around on his heels.

"Why hello there, Sheldon. What a pleasure to see you!" He said completely insincerely, but Sheldon didn't seem to notice.

"It's a pleasure to see you as well, Raj. It's also a pleasure that you have taken the time to drive me home," he paused for a second, "Thank you."

"You're welcome…?" Raj replied as they walked down the hallway. They took the stairs down to the parking lot and climbed into Raj's car. The drive began silently until they got farther down the road.

"Damn it…" Raj muttered.

"What is it?" Sheldon asked. Raj pointed at the road ahead of them.

"The construction. This road is usually faster to get to your apartment but now we have to take the stupid detour."

Much to Raj's surprise, Sheldon kept quiet instead of making a remark or starting a conversation about construction. The drove along silently for a while until Raj finally broke the eerie silence.

"Are you okay, man?"

"I'm fine, Raj. I have no idea why you would ask such a thing, but you should really watch where you're going instead of engaging in conversation," he replied flatly.

"Okay, okay," Raj held up his hands defensively. "It's just… you're not talking as much as you usually do. I thought maybe something was wrong, but I guess not."

After an awkward moment passed Sheldon decided to break the silence.

"My cousin emailed me two days ago," he finally admitted, but in such a flat tone you'd think it meant nothing to him. But Raj had known Sheldon long enough to tell it did mean something.

"Well that's good isn't it? Keeping up with your family can be important and… wait… you never said you had a cousin."

"I never saw a point to bring her up in conversation, we hadn't spoken for 18 years until two days ago."

"And that's what's been bothering you? Sheldon, it's just your cousin trying to reconnect with you. Where you two even that close?"

"We _were_ very close. I'm only two years older than her, and her parents, my aunt and uncle died in a car crash when she was only one. She never got to know them, and I didn't either, but I can still remember them. Anne can't even remember what they look like without a picture…" he paused for a moment and continued his gaze up at the clouds, then he continued. "After her parents died Meemaw decided to take care of her. And at the age of three I decided she would be my sister and I would take care of her when Meemaw couldn't. I was especially excited by the idea that I could teach her to be smart like me, and not mean like Missy." The way Sheldon spoke when he described his cousin made Raj feel like Sheldon wasn't the person in the passengers seat. Since when did Sheldon care about anyone other than his Meemaw?

Suddenly Dr. Cooper broke from his concentration on his cousin to the road. He glared and said, "I don't see why they made us turn on to this detour if they are just going to have construction equipment on the road they chose for the detour. It completely defeats the purpose of a detour!"

"Well, Sheldon, maybe they did that just to piss you off," Raj replied and looked over at the theoretical physicist. Raj tried to picture Sheldon and his cousin Anne when they were little (which was actually very hard because he had no idea what Anne looked like and trying to picture a young Sheldon was harder than it seemed).

Raj gave up on the picture he was trying to put together in his head and noticed that Sheldon looked less than satisfied with his response. Raj was about to say something else when a look of sheer terror came across Sheldon's face. He pointed at the road and Raj turned his head just fast enough to see something tip off of a large semi. Whatever it was that tipped off the semi (Raj couldn't tell because it all happened so fast) fell right into the middle of the road. Raj swerved the car, but not enough, and the edge of the car hit it. The car twisted and spun off the road and into a ditch where it landed upside down and mangled.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N I forgot to mention this in the other chapter: seeing as how I have just started watching season three of this show (I know, I know, I need to catch up) this story takes place probably in the middle of season two. So Amy and Bernadette will not be in the story, sorry for all of you who love those characters but I can't write about them without knowing who they are really. :(**

**Thank you all for reading my story, but I have gotten emails saying that some of you are following this but not reviewing… Please review! It really helps a lot! :)**

**Chapter Two**

Anne sat in the backseat of a taxi that was headed for the Pasadena hospital. Aunt Mary sat in the passengers seat like a ghost, she had hardly spoken since the plane landed. She was obviously anxious, Anne was too, but usually Mary Cooper would have been thanking Jesus that Shelly was alive. But not tonight, not at one in the morning when she nor Anne knew just how bad the injuries were.

Anne closed her eyes and tried to remember her cousin, the genius she hadn't seen for 18 years. She remembered the days when came to visit and he would teach her all sorts of things. By the time she was two she knew his name as 'Moonpie' partially because that was what Meemaw called him, but also because Sheldon taught her how to say it. He also taught her how to say Sheldon, but she never called him by his full name. He was always Moonpie or Shelly.

She also remembered when she went to Sheldon's house to visit. She especially remembered the days that Shelly's father made him watch football. Anne would sit on the couch next to him and when commercials came on or Shelly's father wasn't looking, he would try to read her comic books.

She smiled when she remembered how excited he got when he got a new comic. He would get the same look on his face that normal people got when they received a new car as a birthday present. When he read them to her he got a twinkle in his eye and he'd use special voices for the different characters.

In the middle of her thought, Anne heard Aunt Mary's phone ring. Mary pulled it out of her purse and looked with concern. Anne immediately understood why she was worried: it could be the hospital calling. What if they had bad news?

Mrs. Cooper finally just handed the phone to Anne. "I can't do it," she told her, and Anne answered the phone.

"Hello? No, this is her niece, Anne... Who is this? Oh, Leonard, okay, you're Shelly's roommate right?" There was pause and Mary turned and looked at Anne.

"We just flew in… Yes, we're in a taxi right now, we should be there any minute… No we only got one phone call from the hospital telling us he was in a crash… So, is Moonpie gonna be alright…? Okay, you can get us up to speed when we get there… Alright, you're coming outside to meet us? Good. Alright, talk to you soon… Bye." She said and hung up the phone.

"So that was Leonard?" Mrs. Cooper asked, still looking at Anne.

"Yes, he's at the hospital with someone named Howard and they were allowed to see the other person who was in the wreck, but not Shelly."

"Why weren't they allowed to see Sheldon? And who else was in the crash?" Mary asked and took a deep breath. She was obviously having a hard time staying calm.

"They didn't tell me why they couldn't see him, maybe only family is allowed to visit. The other person in the crash was Rajesh something or other, one of Sheldon's friends." She shuddered at the thought of Sheldon and his friend being hurt. She put her head in her hands and muttered, "Why did this have to happen? Why does this happen to the most important people in my life? First my parents, now Moonpie…" She felt tears drip down her face and she wiped them away. She took a deep breath and looked out the window. The taxi was now sitting in front of the hospital.

* * *

"Did she sound okay?" Howard asked Leonard after he hung up the phone.

"Mrs. Cooper wasn't the one who answered, her niece did."

"Niece? Sheldon has a cousin?" Howard asked as the walked towards the exit doors of the hospital.

"Apparently," Leonard replied. "She said that they just flew in, they left the house as soon as they got the call. They don't know anything other than Sheldon and Raj were in a crash. The hospital didn't tell them anything else."

"So they don't know about the—"

"No, Howard, they don't. And quite frankly, I wish I didn't either." Leonard snapped. It suddenly hit him that two of his best friends were in the hospital, and one of them was fatally injured. And now he had to go break the news to Sheldon's mother and his cousin. He looked down at his watch. 1:05 am. He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. They walked out into the cool air and Howard said, "I can't believe this is all happening."

"I know, me either." They waited in the eerie silence wishing that this was all just some terrible nightmare. They were both exceptionally tired and neither could leave the hospital until Sheldon's family arrived and were taken care of. Luckily Raj wasn't too badly hurt by the crash, so there would be no family arriving for him.

A taxi drove up to the curb and Mrs. Cooper and a young woman stepped out of it. Howard and Leonard walked over to greet them.

"Hello Leonard, hello Howard," Mrs. Cooper said and tried to force a smile. They all walked into the hospital and Leonard suggested they sit in the lobby so that he could explain everything.

"Okay, the doctors said that Sheldon has burns, bad burns. They took him to the IBCU, but then they realized something else was wrong with him." He paused and took a deep breath.

"What is it?" Anne spoke up. "What's wrong with Shelly?" Leonard looked at Howard for help, he didn't want to repeat what the doctors had said.

"There's severe internal bleeding," Howard finally said. "Last we heard they were in the process of taking him into surgery."

Both of the women were shocked. Tears filled Anne's eyes and she stood up. She ran into the women's bathroom and slammed the door behind her. Mrs. Cooper put her head in her hands and took uneven breaths, she was obviously crying but trying to hide it.

"I'm sorry," Leonard said. Mrs. Cooper put her hands down and took a deep breath.

"Please excuse Anne, this is gonna be rough on her," she began to explain. "When she was one year old her parents died in a car accident, and growing up, Sheldon was like a brother to her. She made Sheldon promise to never drive because she couldn't bear the thought of him being in a car accident, too. This happening after all they've been through… It's hard to deal with."

Both Leonard and Howard were touched and surprised by the story and understood completely. If there was one thing Sheldon and his family never ceased to do, it was surprise them.

"I'll go get Anne," she said and walked towards the bathroom.

"It's a little odd to meet someone other than his mother who cares so much about Sheldon." Howard commented.

"On the phone, she even called him 'Moonpie'." Leonard told him.

"Wow, there's more than one person in the universe who's allowed to call him Moonpie?" Howard was again, utterly surprised. "Why didn't Sheldon ever mention he had a cousin?"

"Who knows?" Leonard mumbled. It was so late and he was completely exhausted. He just wanted to go home and find Sheldon sitting in his spot, Raj sitting in the chair next to the couch, Penny sitting next to Sheldon, then Howard on the end of the couch. He wanted things to be normal.

_Wait…_ thought Leonard. _Penny. Did anyone call Penny?_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Howard, did you call Penny?"

"No… Shouldn't the hospital have called her?"

"If she's not on the emergency contact list, then no."

"Mr. Wolowitz?" a nurse tapped Howards shoulder and he turned around. "You're the emergency contact for Rajesh Koothrappali, and he's ready to be taken home."

Howard nodded and looked back at Leonard. "You call Penny, I've gotta take care of Raj."

"See yah, Howard," Leonard called as Howard followed the nurse. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed Penny's number. He waited as the obnoxious ring ran through his ear. Finally Penny answered groggily, "Hellooooo?"

"Penny? Hey, it's Leonard and—" Penny cut him off.

"Leonard, _it's one in the morning!_ Can't we talk tomorrow?"

"No, we can't talk tomorrow, this is important," he stopped and opened his mouth to speak again but nothing happened.

"What is it, Leonard?"

"I-I-it's Sheldon. He…" Suddenly he felt all the emotions he had suppressed until now fill his mind. They all came rushing at him like he had been hit by a train. He tried to finish his sentence but he couldn't get any words out.

"Leonard, do I need to come over to your apartment?" Penny asked.

"No, no. We're at the hospital, he was in a car accident with Raj!" he finally blurted out. Silence filled the other end of the line.

"Are they…" he heard Penny's voice whisper.

"Raj is okay but Sheldon has internal bleeding and burns. He's in surgery right now. Sheldon's mom and cousin flew in and they're not taking it easily." He sighed. "Neither am I."

"Hang in there, sweetie. I'll be there in a second," she said and hung up the phone.

* * *

Penny threw her phone down on her bed and pulled some cute shorts out of her dresser. She tore off her butterfly pajama bottoms and pulled the shorts on. She decided that the tank top she wore was acceptable and ran into her bathroom. She yanked her hairbrush through her hair and then pulled it into a ponytail.

On her way to the door, she snatched her phone off her bed and grabbed her keys. She ran out the door and raced down the stairs. _Okay, Sheldon,_ she thought to herself,_ you'd better make it through this. Please, please, make it through this. _

Penny jumped in her car and started the engine. She drove out of the parking lot and heard her phone make a chirping noise to indicate she got a text message. When she pulled up to a red light she fished the phone out of her pocket and the screen glowed in her face. She squinted her eyes, trying to read the screen, but the brightness hurt her eyes. After a few more seconds her eyes adjusted and read the screen. It said the message was from Leonard. "did u know Sheldon had a cousin? he nvr told any of the guys, including me" it read. She sighed and set her phone down.

Yes, she did know about Sheldon's cousin. She knew the entire story about the car wreck and Anne's parents. She knew Anne called him Moonpie and she knew why. She knew Anne and Sheldon were like peanut butter and jelly when they were kids. She knew almost everything. And she knew why Sheldon had told her about Anne, but not anyone else.

* * *

Raj sat in a chair, looking down at his hands, replaying the crash in his mind. When he closed his eyes he could see the look of fear on Sheldon's face right before they ran into the construction equipment. He could feel the movement of the car as it spun out of control and then flipped upside down. He remembered hitting his head on the steering wheel and watching the world around him darken until there was nothing.

When he regained consciousness and blinked his eyes open, he had heard a paramedic that stood over him say, "This one's got a nasty blow to the head and some minor burns."

Another person from behind him called, "This one's got major burns and a deep cut on his shoulder. He was buried under a lot of debris, something could be more serious internally." The paramedic who had previously been standing over him ran to the other. "You mean like, internal bleeding?"

That's when Raj had realized where he was and what had been happening. He had jerked up from where was laying and saw Sheldon was indeed covered with burns. Raj could only see half of Sheldon's face, but what he did see was now haunting him. The physicist had a burn above his eyebrow and blood was slowly dripping from his nose. A scratch ran from his ear to the middle of his pale cheek. Raj managed to see Sheldon's right shoulder, and it was bleeding through on his Super Man t-shirt. Words couldn't describe just how horrific it was to see Sheldon in that state.

"Raj? Raj? Hey buddy, you alright?" Raj jumped in his seat and looked up into Howard's eyes. Raj jumped out of his chair and hugged 90-pound engineer tightly, still traumatized by the accident. Howard was a little surprised by it, but he hugged Raj back and realized how terrible the whole thing must have been for him. When the Indian man finally stopped hugging him, Howard silently lead Raj to the parking lot and into the car.

As Howard drove, Raj glanced around the streets nervously. "I won't get you in another car accident, Raj. You don't need to worry." Raj didn't speak, he simply nodded his head and stared out the window, wishing he could forget the whole thing.

* * *

Penny ran into the hospital lobby and leaned against the wall, panting and out of breath. The closest parking spot was at the end of the visitor parking lot and Leonard had been texting telling her to hurry up. She walked up to the front desk and asked if she could see Sheldon.

"These are not visiting hours, miss," the receptionist told her.

"Okay, well, where did you send the other people who came to see him?" Penny asked impatiently. The receptionist pointed to an open area with some couches and coffee tables. She walked quickly in the direction that the receptionist had pointed and spotted Leonard and Mrs. Cooper and the woman that must have been Sheldon's cousin.

"Have you heard anything?" she asked them. They all shook their heads and she frowned. She took a seat next to Leonard and blew a streak of blonde hair out of her face.

"Oh, er, Penny, this is Anne, Sheldon's cousin. Anne this is our neighbor Penny." Leonard introduced the two women and they shook hands, trying to smile.

An awkward moment passed and Anne turned to Mrs. Cooper. "Aunt Mary, maybe you should go to the hotel, it's really late."

Mary thought about what her niece had just said and sighed. "You're right Anne. Nothing good is gonna come from sittin' here and worrying, we should thank Jesus Sheldon's alive and get some sleep so we can visit tomorrow." She wasn't enthusiastic about her words, but she stood up anyway.

"Would you like me to drive you there?" Leonard asked politely. "I should head home, too."

Mary nodded and looked at Anne. "You comin'?" she asked.

"No," Anne started, "I ain't leaving here until they tell my Shelly's gonna be alright." He crossed her arms across her chest stubbornly. Mary knew better than to argue with her, she was as stubborn as her son.

"Fine," Mary replied. "Call me when you decide to leave this place." With that she walked away and Leonard awkwardly waved goodbye the young women and then ran after Sheldon's mother. Penny looked down at the tiles on the floor and thought about Sheldon. _The _Sheldon. The Sheldon who's knock on her door became infamous, the Sheldon who had tried multiple times to blow her up with his mind, the Sheldon who never let her go near his spot on the couch. After thinking about all of these things, she actually missed Dr. Whackadoodle.

But the few hours that had passed since the last time she saw Sheldon were nothing compared to Anne's 18 years. Penny looked up at Anne and realized that the woman was much different than she had imagined. The Anne that sat in front of her had reddish-brown curls that fell slightly past her shoulders. She had neatly trimmed bangs and her eyes were bluish-green. She had perfect complexion and her face was pale like Sheldon's. When Anne moved her hand, something caught Penny's eye. Anne had a bracelet on that had letter beads that spelled out Moonpie. The rest of the beads were normal colors all mixed and in no specific order. Penny remembered Sheldon telling her about that bracelet: Sheldon had made that one for Anne that said Moonpie, and Anne made one for Sheldon that said Anna Banana.

"So, you're the famous Anne, huh?" Anne looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Sheldon's told me a couple of stories about when you two were younger." Penny was trying to give herself and Anne a break from all the sad stuff. Penny always loved to focus on the happy parts of life.

"Really?" Anne asked, her face brightening.

"Yeah, he told me about teaching you to say Moonpie, then teaching you to read," Penny smiled. As hard as it was to imagine, she was sure Sheldon had been a really caring, older brother figure to Anne.

"Did he tell you about our Christmases? Those were the best," Anne said and grinned. "When I was four, Shelly decided to give me two stacks of his old comic books for Christmas." They laughed together and Anne added, "He really thought I'd enjoy them! Meemaw had to break it to him that I couldn't read, so that's when he decided to teach me!"

"Wow, I can totally picture a little six year old Sheldon wrapping up the comic books and giving them to you!" Penny laughed. "Sheldon told me about the time when you…" Penny stopped talking as a nurse walked up to them.

"Is one of you Anne Cooper?" she asked them and Anne looked up at her.

"That's me. Do you have news about Sheldon?" she asked nervously. Penny scooted to the edge of her seat and held her breath.

"Yes, I do," the nurse replied. Both Anne and Penny could hear their own hearts beating in their chests as they waited for the nurse to continue speaking. One question ran through their minds: would Shelly be okay?

**A/N hmm… That seems pretty mean of me to leave hanging like that… Oh, well. At least I know you'll read the next chapter ;)**

**Sorry this chapter might be a little weird, it was kind of hard to write, and I'm not really sure why.**

**Anyways, reviews are always welcome, and thank you again for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

"THANK GOD HE'S ALRIGHT!" Anne yelled in the parking lot behind the hospital. Penny smiled as she unlocked her car and the two women climbed inside. The nurse had brought great news, Sheldon was going to be just fine! The nurse said he might be ready for visiting by tomorrow, and both Penny and Anne were ecstatic.

Penny started the engine and drove through the parking lot to the road. There was hardly any traffic, and Penny was relieved. She tried extremely hard, but she didn't know how careful she could drive when she was so tired.

"Oh no," Anne said as she looked through her purse.

"What is it?" Penny asked her.

"I _so_ don't have enough money for a hotel room," she said and held up two one dollar bills and a five.

"Well, if you want, you can stay at my place tonight," Penny offered. "You can sleep on the couch." The couch may not have been big enough for Sheldon when he locked himself out of his apartment, but Anne was quite a bit shorter than him. Plus Anne didn't seem like she would care.

"Really? Thank you so much, Penny!" Anne stuffed the seven dollars back in her purse and Penny continued to watch the road. Her thoughts started to wonder, she found herself thinking about Thai food nights, when everyone was happy and everything was normal. Then she thought about Leonard… How could he have waited so long to call her with the car accident news? Did he _forget_ to call her? Now she was a little angry with the shorter physicist. When this was all over, he had some apologizing to do.

Penny glanced over at Anne, who was looking out the window intently. Her facial expression slightly resembled Sheldon's when he was really thinking about something. Penny turned back to the road and thought about the evening when Sheldon told her about Anne. It was after she and the rest of the gang had desperately tried to teach Sheldon how to drive…

"Why can't you drive, Sheldon?" Penny asked. Sheldon crossed his arms and sat down on the edge of his bed. Penny knew this meant he wasn't talking, but she would try again anyway. "Come on! Almost everyone else on the planet can do it, why cant you? Plus you're a genius! You're probably one equation away from proving string theory or whatever, and you're telling me you can't drive?"

Sheldon frowned. He knew perfectly well that everything she had just said was correct (well, in truth he wasn't 'one equation away' from proving string theory, but it was still a nice compliment). He took a deep breath and Penny made one last effort. "Why can't you drive?"

"Because I made a promise!" Sheldon finally blurted out. "I made a promise to never drive and I intend to keep it." Now he was frowning even more and Penny cocked her head.

"What do you mean, sweetie?"

"My cousin. I promised my cousin."

"Cousin? You never mentioned you had a cousin..."

"I know, Penny." God, that woman had a thing for stating the obvious. "I never mentioned her because she seems to trigger emotions which I cannot control, and as you know, I do not like losing control."

He got up from where he sat and walked over to his dresser. He opened an old cigar box that penny had never noticed before and took a picture out of it. He closed the cigar box and grabbed it with his other hand and began to walk back over to Penny. She made a mental note to ask him about the box later. Sheldon walked back over to Penny and they sat down on Sheldon's bed.

"That is my cousin Anne," Sheldon said and handed the picture to Penny carefully. She looked at the delicate piece of paper and smiled. A girl that looked to be about eleven was smiling broadly. She had long brown hair with bangs and freckles that fell across her cheeks and nose. she had her arm around a skinny, pale, thirteen year old boy who was also smiling. Penny wondered who he was and then she noticed his flash t shirt. _Oh,_ she thought to herself, _that's Sheldon!_

"Sheldon, this is such a cute picture! Why do you keep it locked up in a cigar box of all things?"

"I keep everything I have about Anne in here," he said and opened the box. He took out some more pictures and handed them to Penny. "I keep them in this cigar box because she took a liking to the damn thing and told me to 'keep my memories in it'. I never understood why she liked it so much."

Penny looked through the pictures and found another of Sheldon and Anne together.

"Why are you two covered in foam?" she asked and held up the picture. Sheldon looked at the picture and scowled.

"That was taken after I failed cookie baking experiment. I set the kitchen on fire and Anne found the fire extinguisher. Not too surprisingly, disaster ensued."

Penny giggled and watched Sheldon pull a drawing of Anne out of the box. It was drawn with a normal pencil, but it was amazing. It looked just like a real picture.

"That's amazing! Who drew that?" Penny gaped.

"Me," Sheldon replied submissively and handed it to her. She held it carefully, making sure she didn't crinkle it.

"You never told me you could draw!" she exclaimed. "You don't seem to tell me a lot of things…"

Sheldon shrugged and pulled a little bracelet out of the box. It was the first thing that made him react. He smiled bigger than Penny had ever seen him smile before. She leaned over and looked at it more closely. It had little letter beads that spelled out 'Anna Banana'.

"She made this one for me and I made one for her that said 'Moonpie'." he said, still smiling. Now Penny was really confused. She had gotten in trouble with Sheldon before for calling him Moonpie. Sheldon said that only Meemaw could call him that.

Sheldon noticed Penny's expression of confusion and he clarified. "She's the only person other than Meemaw who can call me Moonpie."

Penny thought about what Sheldon had just said. Was it worth it to ask him why? She remembered how Sheldon said Anne made him promise not to drive. _That's kind of a weird thing for someone to make you promise,_ she thought.

"Sheldon," she started. He looked up at her and she continued, "Why did Anne make you promise to never drive?"

Sheldon hesitated and looked back down at the box on his lap. When he looked up again, Penny noticed his big blue eyes had tears at the brims. "This is where those emotions kick in," he said and a tear rolled down his cheek.

"Oh, sweetie," Penny said empathetically. She set her hand on his shoulder, forgetting he hated being touched. Much to her surprise, he didn't pull away.

"When I was three and she was one, Anne's parents were supposed to drive to northern Mississippi for a conference, and Anne stayed with Meemaw. One day while they were gone, my mother and I were visiting when Meemaw got a call from a hospital in southern Mississippi. Anne's parents were in a car accident and they both…" he stopped and put his head in his hands.

"Oh, Sheldon, it's okay," Penny said and scooted closer to him. Very slowly and very carefully moved her arms around him and hugged him. They sat there for a minute while Sheldon tried to regain control of his emotions. It wasn't like he was a… _oh what do they call it…_ Penny thought. _Oh yeah! Vulcan! _It's not like Sheldon was trying to be a Vulcan and suppress all of his emotions, he just didn't know how to handle them.

"Meemaw decided to take care of Anne because my mother already had to deal with Missy and George and I," Sheldon said and Penny let go of him.

**A/N okay guys, this isn't the end of the chapter but I wanted to be able to get it up before I leave town for the next couple of days. So, no more updates for a little while! :( but at least I told you that Sheldon's alright! Anyways, I'm literally like two minutes away from leaving so I really can't finish the chapter… part two of chapter four will be super awesome to make up for it! But again, I really am sorry!**

**Review if you like, thanks for reading. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N one quick thing before this chapter, I would like to apologize for any errors i made in the previous chapter, I might get around to fixing them but I'm sort of busy so maybe not...** **Anyway,**

**Chapter 4.5**

Penny snapped out of her flashback when the traffic light turned green. She drove forward and then turned into the building's parking lot. She drove into her parking lot and turned off her car. They walked into the lobby and started climbing up the stairs.

"Thanks again, Penny," Anne said quietly

"No problem," Penny replied. She almost ended her sentence with 'sweetie' because she was so used to climbing the stairs with Sheldon. They ascended the rest of the stairs in silence, but when they got to Penny's floor, she shuddered at the sight of Sheldon and Leonard's door.

"Are you okay?" Anne asked.

"Oh, yeah I'm fine," Penny said. "That's your cousin's apartment," she pointed towards the door and then turned to hers. She pulled out her key and pushed it in the lock. She opened the door but didn't enter. She could hear Sheldon in her head.

_Knock knock knock_

"_Penny!"_

She felt her skip a beat and she closed her eyes. _Stupid Whackadoodle's messing with my head! _she thought and walked in her apartment. Anne followed and closed the door behind her. Penny grabbed a pillow and some blankets and set up a bed on the couch.

"There ya go," Penny said and Anne lied down. "G'night!" Penny called as she walked into her room and closed the door. She took off her shorts and pulled her butterfly pajama pants back on and crawled into her bed. She stared at the ceiling and thought about the past hour.

_Poor Sheldon…_ she thought, and closed her eyes tightly.

* * *

Anne woke up to sound of Penny making coffee. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes and sat upright, trying to remember where she was. She was in the middle of remembering everything that happened when she heard footsteps behind her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." She turned to see Penny holding two cups of coffee. "Want some?" she offered sleepily. She nodded her head and Penny handed the warm cup to her. Penny sat down in a chair and sipped her coffee.

"You know what would go good with this? Milk," Penny said and walked towards the refrigerator and opened it. She heard her phone beep and she turned around to look at it sitting on the counter. It read: _One text message from Leonard Hofstadter._

She pushed the 'read' button and the screen changed and showed the message: "hey Penny, I had to go to the university to fill in for someone. Txt me if the hospital tells u anything."

She was still a little mad at Leonard for last night, so she decided to wait a little while to text him back with the good news, that is, if they didn't already call him. She turned back to the refrigerator and muttered, "Damn it, outta milk…" She closed the refrigerator and grabbed her emergency key to the physicists' apartment.

"Where are you going?" Anne asked her.

"I'm gonna go get some milk from across the hall. C'mon," she waved. Anne got up and followed Penny out the door and across the hallway. Penny unlocked the door and pushed it open. She strode across the living room and grabbed the milk out of the refrigerator. Anne walked over to Sheldon's white board and laughed. Penny raised an eyebrow.

"What are you laughing at?"

"This," Anne replied and pointed at an equation on the board. Penny stared at it. "You see," Anne said and picked up a marker. "When you solve it out…" she started solving the equation and Penny watched, trying to keep up. Anne finished writing and stepped back. Now Penny understood why Anne had laughed, when you solved the equation it ended up saying: i3u.

"Shelly taught me that one when I was eight. I didn't really get most of it, but when he solved it I understood why he had fun doodling it on everything."

"That's Sheldon's version of _doodling_?" Penny asked as Anne erased her work. "No smiley faces, or hearts, or peace signs, just _equations?_"

"This _is_ Moonpie we're talking about, Penny." Anne smiled.

_Moonpie_ Penny repeated in her mind. She looked down at Anne's bracelet and there it was again. Her bracelet!

"Oh, I know!" Penny exclaimed and set her coffee down on the kitchen counter. She grabbed Anne's arm and pulled her down the hallway. They stopped in front of Sheldon's room and Penny hesitated before opening the door. Sheldon hated it when people went in his room, but this was a special occasion. She pushed it open and she found the old cigar box sitting on Sheldon's dresser. She picked it up and sat down on the bed where she had when she went through the box with Sheldon. _Went through the box with Sheldon…_

* * *

Penny grabbed the tissue box from Sheldon's bedside table and handed a tissue to him. He greatly accepted it and blew his nose.

"I'm sorry Penny," he said and wiped away his tears.

"It's okay, sweetie," she said soothingly. "You don't need to be sorry. Everyone gets emotional sometimes. It's okay for you to lose control every once in a while." She knew he wouldn't believe her, but she tried to help him anyway. It was the only thing she could do.

"When we were kids, Anne and I, we were very close. I helped Meemaw raise her in any way I could. I taught her her first words and I taught her how to read. I read stories and comic books to her until she understood," Sheldon continued his story.

"So you two were like peanut butter and jelly?" Penny smiled. The emotions, they didn't seem very Sheldon-y, but they were still sweet.

"Interesting comparison, but yes, you could say that."

* * *

"Penny?" Anne was poking her on the arm and looked concerned. Penny blinked a few times Anne sighed with relief.

"Sorry," Penny said, and then asked "Flashbacks are weird, aren't they?"

"Oh is that what that was?"

Penny nodded and then looked down at the box that sat on her lap. Sheldon would probably be mad at her if he found out she did this, but she didn't care. She popped open the box and pulled out the bracelet. Anne's face lit up and she covered her mouth with her hand. She took the bracelet carefully from Penny and stared at it. A little tear of joy slid down her cheek and she slipped it on her wrist next to the one that said Moonpie.

"I was sure he threw this away after that stupid fight!"

_Fight? What fight?_ When Sheldon had told Penny about Anne, he failed to mention why they hadn't spoken to one another for 18 years. Was this why? A fight?

"What fight?" Penny asked.

"He didn't tell you?" Anne asked, surprised. Penny shook her head. "Well, as you probably know, Sheldon hates fighting more than normal people do," Anne began. "So I was always very careful not to argue with him or say anything that would upset him. He was careful with me, too. It was like there was some sort of law in place, and we both followed it very carefully." She paused. "But one day he _wasn't_ careful, and neither was I."

* * *

"Anne? Anne where are you?" Sheldon called from the entryway of Meemaw's front door.

"I'm in the kitchen, Moonpie!" he heard her cheery voice yell. He took of his backpack and walked down the hall to the kitchen. His twelve year old cousin set down a mixing bowl and leaned on the counter.

"Did ya get any ass kickings from the neighbourhood kids today?" she asked with a slightly devious face. "I already started making cookies."

Anne always made chocolate chip cookies when Sheldon got bullied, it seemed to help him get his mind off of it. It wasn't like she – a short for her age, twelve year old girl – could stop the bullies, so she tried to comfort him instead. Plus, Sheldon was the kind of person who would say something completely insulting and not know it.

"No, I didn't get any 'ass kickings,' I just came here to check up on you," he said and held his hands behind his back.

"Check up on me?" Anne asked. "What are you talking about?" she picked the mixing bowl back up and stirred it.

"Oh, nothing…" he walked over to her and looked at the cookie dough. "That's an inefficient method."

"Excuse me?"

"If you added all the wet ingredients at the same time, it wouldn't take so long to mix."

"What are you talking about? Don't be tellin' me how to bake cookies, Shelly. You're the one who almost burnt this house down!"

"I'm not telling you how, I'm merely suggesting a simpler way."

"Would you shut up about your stupid simpler ways!" she yelled and slammed down the mixing spoon. Sheldon stepped back surprised, but she thought he knew it was coming. Then she remembered Sheldon could never tell when someone was about to burst.

"But Anne, I—"

"NO, Sheldon! NO buts! I'm sick of your simpler ways! You taught me a 'simpler way' to do my math homework and I ended up staying up until two am just to finish it!" Sheldon backed away, but that only made Anne angrier. She was tired of Sheldon always telling her what to do, and she was sick of him not standing up for himself.

"Goddamn it, Sheldon, get back here! Grow a spine and stand up for yourself!"

"Well _excuse me_ for not wanting to yell! I for one, SEE IT ABSOLUTELY POINTLESS! But since we've decided this is how we will speak to one another, I guess I will yell!"

"Good Lord, Sheldon! It took you THIS LONG to decide to yell? After all the smart ass comments and the way you speak! You're condescending, Sheldon! Sometimes it's hard to think that you would even _care _enough to yell!"

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe, _just maybe_ I did care? Maybe I did care, and I wanted to yell, but I didn't? Because maybe I cared about someone? Maybe I cared enough about you not to get angry and upset? Maybe I _cared_ enough to always give you my good side instead of the bad? I have always _cared_, Anne! From when you first said Moonpie to when you first read a book to when you helped Meemaw when she fell last month," tears formed in his eyes as he spoke, "_I've always cared!_" he stood there for a second and stared into her shiny green eyes. The same ones he watched grow for the past ten years, the ones that used to comfort him. But now, they weren't warm. They were as cold as steel.

He ran back down the hallway and grabbed his backpack and slammed the door behind him as he left. Anne set down her mixing bowl and put her head in her hands. She sighed and took the mixing bowl over to the sink and was going to dump it when she leaned against the refrigerator and slid down to the floor. She crossed her legs and used the mixing spoon to scoop the cookie dough in her mouth. What had she done?

* * *

"I'll tell you what I did, Penny," Anne said after she finished her story there, "I broke Shelly's little heart. I tore up the perfect little picture we had painted of ourselves and threw it into a fire. I destroyed the most beautiful friendship I will ever have with a person. How could he ever fogive me for that? How could I ever forgive _myself_ for that?"

**A/N alrighty, I stayed up until one am to finish this chapter, I hope you like it! And don't worry, the flashbacks will stop and we'll go back to the current day (well, current as in season two) Sheldon in the next chapter! :)**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Oh yeah, and doesn't that review button look gorgeous tonight? Almost as cute as Jim Parsons, right? ;)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter five/six ( fanfiction insists on calling it chapter six, so you can call it that, too!)**

When Sheldon's eyes fluttered open, he was helplessly confused. A woman stood next to where he was laying, _why am I laying down?_ She was fiddling with the iv that was in Sheldon's arm, _why is there an iv in my arm?_ She stopped fiddling with it and walked over to a heart rate monitor, _who needs a heart rate monitor? Is someone hurt? _The heart rate monitor's screen had the name _Sheldon L. Cooper_ displayed at the top. _Oh, it's me. I'm the one who's hurt… How the hell did I get hurt?_

"Mr. Cooper?" the woman was looking down at him. He looked up and her.

"That's Dr. Cooper," he corrected. He may have been injured, but he still felt the need to correct her. It was habit.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Dr. Cooper," she apologized and picked up a clipboard she jotted something down and then muttered, "Still remembers his name, well that's good. Could of sworn it's take him a while to get memory back…"

"Why am I here?" Sheldon asked and then the nurse looked worried.

"You were in a car accident. Can you remember any of it, sweetie?"

_Sweetie, sweetie… Why does that sound familiar? Who calls me sweetie?_

"Dr. Cooper?" the nurse asked but Sheldon ignored her. He looked down at his hand and formed it into a fist. He knocked it against the metal rail on the bed three times. _Knock knock knock… __Penny__! Penny calls me sweetie!_

"Dr. Cooper?" the nurse repeated. He looked back at her. "Can you tell me what happened in the car accident with Rajesh Koothrappali?"

"Raj? Raj was in a car accide-" he stopped talking as it all came back to him.

The construction, the thing in the road, the swerving and spinning, the car flipping upside down and his window breaking right next to him. The shards of glass flying through the air like lethal snowflakes. He remembered one large piece slicing through his shirt and cutting his shoulder. The pieces that slid across his face scratched and cut him. The sudden jerks of crashing into that ditch on side of the road. He remembered the sound of screeching metal and the thumping of his own heart, as loud as thunder. He remembered having something bang against the back of his head and propelling him forward to whack his nose on something else, and then something hit his stomach at the same time. He remembered seeing bright orange flames, and watching them hit his body and burn him.

He remembered it all.

"I-I-I remember…" it was all he could say before he felt his heart start pounding out f his chest. He took short uneven breaths and began to shake violently. The nurse jumped up and prepared a needle as some more nurses came in and held him down. The original nurse carefully stuck the needle in his arm without the iv and he watched the liquid flow into his arm. He felt himself stop shaking as black splotches filled his vision. They grew and grew until his entire vision was gone, and all he could see was darkness.

* * *

Penny pulled back into the hospital parking lot and she and Anne climbed out. This was the start of visiting hours. Sheldon's mom would be coming later, she had to call Meemaw and explain everything. Howard and Leonard would pick up Raj and come visit after they finished at the university.

The two women entered the main lobby and walked straight to the receptionist, a nicer looking fellow today.

"Hi, we're here to see Sheldon Cooper?" Penny said.

"Only family can visit today," he said and looked at them.

"Yeah, well, I'm his cousin and this is his…" Anne paused and bit her lip. "Wife!" she said, "This is Shelly's wife."

_WHAT? _ Penny's froze in place and realized it was the only way she would be able to see Sheldon. She finally managed to say, "Yeah, I'm Sheldon's wife." _I'm Sheldon's wife… Of course I am. Talk about irony._

Anne smiled as the receptionist got up and motioned for them to follow him down the hall. After many turns and other long hallways, they finally made it to the ICU. The receptionist approached a door and peaked through the window before turning the handle and pushing it open. The women entered and the receptionist left. They stood for a minute and stared at the sight before them.

Sheldon lay in the hospital bed silently, his eyes were shut peacefully. His chest moved up and down slightly with each breath, the motion was almost graceful. But that, unfortunately, was the only graceful thing about him. An iv stuck out of his left arm and a huge crimson burn wrapped around his upper arm and disappeared under the hospital clothing. They approached him and saw that much of his other arm was burnt as well. Some cuts and scrapes added to the horrific affect that caused Anne to cover her mouth in shock. This was not the way she wanted to see her cousin after 18 years. His right shoulder was wrapped in a bandage and Anne and Penny wondered what that was about. Seeing his face, however, was the worst part. A huge burn ran from his ear to the corner of his eye and then down to his chin. A healing cut was across his other cheek, and another bright red burn was above his eyebrow.

Anne took off the 'Anna Banana' bracelet and slipped it onto his right wrist. Then she collapsed into a nearby chair and stared at him. Penny felt her eyes fill with tears.

"Why did this have to happen, oh God, why Sheldon?" Penny croaked out. She leaned over Sheldon and took his hand in hers. He didn't so much as move.

"Soft kitty, warm kitty," she sang softly, "Little ball of fur. Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr, purr, purr." She stopped singing and her tears dripped down on his hand. "Please get better, Sheldon. Please, for me?" she asked him, but he didn't open his eyes or move a muscle.

* * *

"I'm his brother."

"Me too."

"And I'm his… adopted brother."

"Of course you are," the receptionist said. He didn't actually believe them, but he still led Howard, Leonard, and Raj down the many hallways to get to the ICU. The exact same route that Anne and Penny took. The receptionist pushed open a door and then backed away and left the three men staring through the entryway. The first thing they saw when the entered was Penny sitting in the chair by the door. She didn't look up at first, she finished writing something on a piece of paper.

"Hey, guys," she said flatly. She wasn't enthusiastic at all about their arrival, and they all understood why when the caught sight of Sheldon.

"Oh my god…" Leonard walked closer to him and blinked time after time, hoping maybe this awful image would go away. Raj froze in place but managed to whisper something in Howard's ear.

"No, Raj, it was not your fault," Howard replied stubbornly and put a hand on his best friend's shoulder. "Look, how about we go and get Sheldon a 'get well soon' card from downstairs and then maybe you can handle seeing Sheldon?" Raj nodded and left the room. "We'll be back in a bit," Howard told Penny and Leonard. "I've gotta talk him out of this whole guilt thing."

"Don't take too long, alright? I want everyone here when Shelly wakes up!" Penny told him as he left.

"Shelly?" Leonard questioned and forced himself to turn away from Sheldon.

"That just shows you how much I've been hanging out with Anne," Penny said and looked back down at the paper that sat in her lap.

"Where is Anne?" Leonard asked.

"I'm right here!" Anne called from the doorway. She was carrying some colorful flowers and was dragging Mrs. Cooper with her other hand. "Look who I found in the lobby! They weren't gonna let her in 'cause 'Mrs. Cooper' already came to see him, and Aunt Mary certainly isn't the young blonde Mrs. Cooper who came earlier!" Anne winked at Penny.

"What?" Leonard was completely confused, needless to say.

"We had to tell them that I'm Sheldon's wife so that I could come see him," Penny clarified. "When Sheldon's mother told them she was Mrs. Cooper they must have gotten confused."

"Oh, okay…" Leonard replied slowly.

"Alright, enough chit chat, where's my son?" Mrs. Cooper asked from the doorway. Leonard stepped aside and Anne led Mrs. Cooper to Sheldon. Mrs. Cooper's reaction was more or less the same to Anne and Penny's. The other three people in the room fell silent as she stood over her son and held back tears.

Anne took the flowers she held and set them on the little table by Sheldon. Penny continued writing on her little folded piece of paper, and Leonard tried to see what she was writing.

"It's a get well soon card," Penny told him quietly. She held up for him to see and he smiled. Drawn in the center was a little cat and written around it were the lyrics to Soft Kitty. She put the card back down and continued writing something on the inside of it.

A light knocking came from the door and Howard and Raj came back in. They stayed quiet when they saw Sheldon's mom, but they walked over to the table that Anne had put the flowers on. Howard set a card up so that when Sheldon woke up he would see it, and Raj set down his next to it. Penny got up and put her card with theirs. Everyone sat down in seats except for Anne. The rest of the people in the room began speaking to one another while Anne stood by Sheldon, hoping he would wake up. She looked down at him and wished that for a split second he would open his bright blue eyes. She missed them, she missed seeing them everyday. She missed seeing _him_ every day.

"Oh, Moonpie," she sighed, but no one heard her. Or at least, she _thought _no one heard her.

"Anne?" she heard someone whisper. She looked down and saw Sheldon's eyes were open.

"MOONPIE!" she jumped up and down excitedly. She leaned down to his face and looked into his eyes, they were deep blue, just like the ocean. He was about to say something but she laid a finger over his lips. "Wait, wait," she said as everyone walked over to him. "I'm sorry," she whispered and a tear ran down her check. He reached up and wiped it away. "Don't be sorry, Anna Banana," he told her and she grinned. He sat up and she hugged him very carefully to make sure she didn't hurt him.

"I love you, Moonpie," she whispered in his ear.

"I love you too, Anne," he whispered back.

**A/N I will be leaving town without my laptop again, so this might be the last update for a few days. Just thought I'd let you know!**

**Anyhow, thanks for reading and review if you like. :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N I changed it so that the rating is T cuz of language and violence and stuff… I hope I made the right choice, was that stupid? (ah, my wonderful insecurities) Anyway, I also wanted to make note of the fact that this chapter is very… Shenny. :))))**

**Chapter Six/Seven**

Sheldon looked around at everyone who had come to see him: his mom, Anne, Leonard, Penny, Howard, and Raj. He was relieved that so many familiar faces had been there to greet him when he woke up instead of some random nurse. Although, right now all of those familiar faces were listening to another random nurse as she explained what was wrong with Sheldon.

"As you all probably know, he had internal bleeding, so we surgically fixed that," she said. _That explains why there are stitches across my stomach._ "And you can all see that he's got some burns, luckily the only major burns are on his arm and on his leg." _And that explains the bandages there. _"He's only got one major cut, the one on his shoulder which is temporarily bandaged, but will need to 'air out', if you will. We're going to have to keep a close eye on that and all the other cuts to make sure they don't get infected." _Oh that sounds like fun… bazinga! That's not fun!_ He made himself smile at his practical joke inside his head. "Also, his right knee is sprained, so it's going to need to be in a brace after the burns heal."

"Is that everything?" Leonard asked. "That sure was a lot."

"Well, there is one more thing," the nurse hesitated. "For an unknown reason, earlier today he had a seizure."

"But he's okay, right? There's no, like, brain damage or whatever?" Penny's voice suddenly became particularly worried. Sheldon was surprised by this and looked over at her with a raised eyebrow.

"He's fine," the nurse reassured the blonde and she sighed in relief.

Sheldon was puzzled by Penny. Why was she so worried? The nurse would have already told them if something else was seriously wrong with him. Sheldon tried to wrap his brilliant mind around the idea of Penny caring about him. He couldn't.

* * *

Sheldon looked over at the clock on the hospital wall. 7:28, 28 minutes after visiting hours ended. Everyone had left and Sheldon felt a tad bit lonely. Usually he liked to be alone and not have to deal with social conventions, but the hospital room had nothing for him to do. He tried to fall asleep but he wasn't tired. He looked over at the flowers that Anne had brought him, surrounding them were cards. _When did those get there?_ He picked them up and looked at the one on top. It had a picture of a teddy bear holding a 'get well soon' sign. Sheldon didn't even have to open the card to know it was from his slightly homosexual friend Raj.

The next card had a pretty boring cover, but when he opened it he felt the corners of his lips curl up into a smile. Written in purple ink, it said, "Sheldon, get well soon. Sorry this card is pretty bland, they didn't have any Star Trek, Doctor Who, Green Lantern, Flash, OR train get well cards. Also, the only pens they sold were purple and pink, so I settled for the purple. –Wolowitz"

When he got to the last card he smiled even bigger. A little cat was carefully drawn in the middle, and written in bubble letters were the Soft Kitty lyrics. He opened it and read the message written inside: "Dr. Whackadoodle, get well soon! I know we have our differences, but seeing you in here like this has opened my eyes to see that you are just as normal as me. And I want you to know that I care about you, so heal really fast 'cause I miss you. It's not the same without your classic knock on my door at exactly 11 am every morning. Love, Penny. P.S. If anyone at the hospital asks, I'm your wife. It's the only way they'll let me visit. :)"

The last thing she wrote made him freeze in place. He knew it meant nothing, and it was pretty brave thing to lie to the hospital, but it still seemed so odd. He had never once considered himself and Penny together, and with good reasoning! They were total opposites! Only in a parallel universe could that possibly become of the two friends.

Sheldon set the cards down and sighed. He picked up the remote for the television and pressed the power button. The channel it turned on to was playing an old soap opera, so Sheldon changed the channel in hopes of finding something better. Tonight was anything can happen Thursday. _This will be the most boring anything can happen Thursday in my life_, he thought as he flipped through the channels. He found a special on NOVA but he already knew everything that they were talking about. He continued skimming channels and he finally found a Star Trek movie. Unfortunately it was almost over.

Sheldon tried to readjust his position in the hospital bed but it just lead to pain. His shoulder was starting to hurt when he moved it, and if any of his burns brushed against something they stung. He knew he wasn't supposed to bend his knee, but when he tried to reposition himself he forgot. Now he was in pain all over his body. _Why aren't those pain killers working?_

A nurse walked in to check up on him. "How are you feeling?" she asked him as she studied the monitors he was hooked up to.

"I'm in pain," he said flatly.

"That certainly makes sense, seeing as how you should have been given more pain medication almost half an hour ago!" she said as she looked down at a clip board.

"Half an hour ago? Why didn't anyone come then?" Sheldon exclaimed. This was a hospital, shouldn't they take better care of people?

The nurse ignored his question and prepared a needle. "Are you going to stick another one of those into me?" he asked. He was getting really tired of it.

"No, this goes directly into the iv," she said and walked to the other side of his bed. She gave him the medicine and the asked, "Is there anything you need, sir?"

"No," he sighed and she left him to the ending of his Star Trek movie.

* * *

Penny lay in her bed with her eyes squeezed shut, it was the only way she could possibly attempt to fall asleep. Her thoughts kept going back to Sheldon; Sheldon lying in the hospital bed with all those burns. She let her mind wonder back to the happier days when Sheldon made fun of her and she made fun of him; and when he tried to explain whatever he said but it still made no sense. She finally felt her eyes relax and somewhere in the middle of remembering she drifted asleep.

* * *

Penny's eyes flashed open and she clenched her blanket so tight that her knuckles were turning white. She sat up and realized she was holding her breath. She let it out and tried to keep her breathing normal. She felt a rush of emotions as the images from her nightmare came back to her. She bit her lip and held back her tears. _That's enough crying, Penny!_ she told herself.

She had dreamt that Sheldon had another seizure and then something happened involving brain damage. And then… he died.

She made an eep noise at the notion of it, it was too awful to bear. _He's okay, the nurse said he's okay. __He is okay__._

She pulled herself out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom. She pulled her curly blonde hair into a ponytail washed her face. It was obvious she wouldn't be falling asleep for a while. She pulled her robe on and headed across the hallway. Anne would be staying in Mrs. Cooper's hotel room from now on because it had two single beds, which meant the only person to talk to was Leonard. She didn't really want to see Leonard, she thought he was a little whiney sometimes. But of course, she would never say that out loud, especially when all she needed right now was someone to comfort her.

She pounded on the physicists' door and wished that maybe this was a dream and Sheldon would answer it. Nope, Leonard opened the door.

"Penny? What are you doing here?" he wiped his eyes and put his glasses on. Penny stood in the doorway for a minute and watched Leonard step aside to let her in. He waved her in after another awkward moment. She complied and plopped down on the couch in her spot, the one next to Sheldon's. Leonard walked over to Sheldon's spot and almost sat down, but then he saw Penny's glare and settled for the chair. _Maybe I was better off alone,_ Penny thought herself and continued her glare at the short physicist.

"Did you just come here to glare at me, or did you want something?" he asked and yawned. How could he just sit there when she was so obviously upset and Sheldon was in that goddamn hospital? She took a deep breath and tried not to yell at him.

"I miss Sheldon, okay?" she said and he raised his eyebrows.

"_You_ miss Sheldon? You of all people?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she asked and her voice rose considerably as she went into defense mode.

"Well, you and Sheldon haven't really gotten along much, that's all," Leonard's voice was becoming apologetic and it just pissed Penny off more. Leonard said he liked her but then he did shit like this, how aggravating is that?

"Look, I came over here because I had a nightmare, and it was the worst thing I have ever dreamed up in a long time. Sheldon _died_, Leonard. Sure it was just a dream but it freaked me out, okay?" She stood up and leaned closer to his shocked face. "And I thought you might be caring, and I don't know, make me a 'warm beverage'!" she said, quoting the taller physicist. She felt her eyes fill up with tears. Yeah, that's what she expected. She'd expected Sheldon to comfort her, even though she knew he wasn't there. "I know it doesn't seem like I care about him, but in some twisted way, I love him!" she shouted. "I love that stupid whackadoodle!"

She took a step back and raised her hand over her mouth. What did she just say? She meant, well, she cared about him, yes. But when she said 'love' she meant like a brother, right? _Right?_ She turned around on her heals and ran out the door. The small amount of space between her apartment and theirs seemed to grow longer and longer as she ran. She finally grabbed her door handle and twisted it open. She ran inside and slammed the door behind her. She slid down to the floor and put her head in her hands the way she had when she dropped all of her groceries in the hall; another time Sheldon had come to her rescue. She squeezed her eyes shut and cried silently until she fell asleep again.

**A/N okay, so I obviously don't like Leonard very much… sorry if you do… And sorry there's like, no Anne scenes in this chapter. And this obviously just took a sharp turn towards the Shenny universe, like I made note of in the beginning of this chapter. (Sorry all you Lenny and Shamy shippers but Amy ain't here yet and we all know that Lenny's just a bad idea after all that on and off stuff.)**

_**Anyways,**_** like always, thanks for reading and that review button is still single. I think you should really hook up with it tonight. (Just pretend it's Jim Parsons or Kaley Cuoco - depending on your gender and sexual orientation - and you won't be able to resist!)**

**And finally, sorry for such a long author's note! ;)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter seven/eight**

Penny opened her eyes and was blinded by sunlight shining through the living room windows. Her head was throbbing and her heart was pounding. The first thing she thought of was what she had said last night. She had been so tired, so angry, so scared, and so alone. In a moment of craziness, she had let some words slip out of her normally careful mouth. She had said something she hadn't even admitted to herself yet. _I guess he's the kind of guy that you don't realize you've fallen for until you make it blatantly obvious, like by yelling it in your ex-boyfriend's face._ She pushed herself off of the floor where she had slept without anymore dreams, and she was thankful. She picked up her phone from the couch and looked at the time: 11:14. _Holy crap on a cracker, I slept in late! _She was about to set it down when it started to ring.

"Hello?" she answered it.

"Hello, Penny. It's Sheldon."

* * *

Sheldon looked around the hospital room once more, trying to think of something he could do. He glanced at the clock: 11:10. He had no doubt studied every detail of the room by now, so he became more and more bored by the second. He longed for a good book to read. Maybe he could brush up on social conventions.

"Dr. Cooper?" a nurse looked at him from behind another clipboard.

"What?" he asked impatiently. He was sick of all these nurses interrogating him.

"Last question: are you experiencing any pain?"

"Other than the pain of being tremendously bored, no." Usually he would spend time like this typing away at his laptop or standing in front of his white board, but he didn't have these things.

"I'm sorry, sir. There's nothing I can do about that. If you'd like, you could call one of your friends and ask them to bring you a book or something?" she pointed at the cordless phone on the wall. "Would you like me to get it for you?"

He nodded and she handed it to him. As he dialed the number, the nurse put her clipboard away and left the room. He put the phone to his ear and listened to it ring.

"Hello?" Leonard's voice came though the phone.

"Hello, Leonard. It's Sheldon."

"Hey, buddy…" Leonard's voice sounded odd. Sheldon wasn't the best at detecting differences in tones of voice but his roommate almost sounded annoyed. Like he really didn't want to talk to anyone.

"I called to ask if you could do me a favor," Sheldon continued and ignored Leonard's tone of voice.

"What is it?"

"There's positively nothing to do here, I was hoping you could bring me a book."

"I'm at the university, Sheldon. I can't bring you a book!"

"At the university? But why? It's Saturday!"

"I'm filling in for Dr. Karnofsky. He's sick and he has to have a series of tests and experiments that need to be done by Monday. The soonest I would be able to get a book to you would be eight!"

Sheldon frowned. "Well that's… stupid!" he finally said. This whole stuck-in-the-hospital-without-anything-to-do thing was getting _so frustrating!_

"Do you want me to call," Leonard stopped and practically squeaked out the next word, "Penny?"

"Why did you say her name like that?" Sheldon questioned.

"Look, Sheldon, there's something you need to know about Penny. Last night she said she—" there was a loud click and then Sheldon heard the dial tone. Leonard must've lost connection. Sheldon hung up the phone and dialed Penny's number.

"Hello?" Penny answered the phone.

"Hello, Penny. It's Sheldon." He greeted her the same way he did Leonard.

"Your roommate is an ass," she told him.

"How so?" he asked curiously. Could this be why Leonard was being weird?

"I had a nightmare and it freaked me out, so I went over to your apartment to see if he might comfort me! But he didn't! He was just being a bastard!"

"Penny, you shouldn't need comforting because of a dream," he said, changing the subject away from Leonard. He didn't like it when Penny was complaining. "Dreams are just successions of images and emotions passing through your mind while you sleep. They're not real!"

"I know they're not real, Sheldon. But they can still be scary and awful and sad!"

"What could be so unpleasant that would upset you so much?" he asked her. He didn't really care, but she said she needed comforting. Maybe talking about it would help.

"Well… I'll start from the beginning," she sighed. "I dreamt that you got better and were able to come home, but then one day you had another seizure. An ambulance came and took you away. They left me and everyone else at your apartment, but I could see you in the ambulance, shaking and shaking. And you looked like you were in so much pain, Sheldon! And then, the next minute I was sitting with a doctor and he was telling me you had brain damage that couldn't be fixed. So I went into the room they had you in and I watched you just lie there until the heart monitor finally stopped beeping and you… died." Sheldon could hear her voice become uneasy as she spoke. By the last word she was taking uneven breaths and he guessed she was crying.

"Penny! Stop crying! Please Penny, it's okay! I'm just fine, see I'm talking to you right now! Please stop crying!" his voice was desperate, he wanted her to stop crying so badly. He _needed_ her to stop crying. It made _him_ want to cry. "Please, Penny. For me?"

"Okay," she said. "Okay, I'll stop. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry you had a nightmare like that." There was a pause as the two recovered from the odd moment. "But, I have a question. I tried to call Leonard earlier and he was telling me that you said something last night but he didn't get to tell me what. Do you know what he was talking about?"

"Oh…" There was a long silence from the other end of the line and Sheldon thought maybe her connection got cut off too. Then she finally replied, "Yeah, I know what he was talking about, but I… I think I should tell you in person, okay?"

"Alright. I don't see a problem with that." He told her and he heard her sigh in relief. "Penny, one more thing. Can you bring me a book? I'm bored to tears." He emphasized each word in his last sentence and he heard Penny's high pitched laugh. Usually it annoyed him. This time it didn't.

* * *

Anne skimmed Penny's bookcase for a good book for Sheldon. Most of Penny's books were romances and girly, definitely not Sheldon material. But, if Sheldon was as desperate as Penny described, he might be willing to check out some of these… She pulled some books off of the shelf to check out: _Stargirl,_ by Jerri Spinelli, and _The Time Traveler's Wife, _by Audrey Niffenegger, and _The Truth About Forever,_ by Sarah Dessen. She read the synopsis of the first book and put it back, it sounded good to her, but she knew Sheldon would _never_ go for it. She thought Sheldon might like the second one because it had to do with time travel, but when she looked inside the book she knew he wouldn't care for it either. _Third time's the charm, right?_ she thought and opened the last book. The line she read seemed so familiar, it described something she felt perfectly: "That was the thing. You never got used to it, the idea of someone being gone. Just when you think it's reconciled, accepted, someone points it out to you, and it just hits you all over again, that shocking." That was how she felt for 18 years.

Anne heard a door open and turned around to see Penny smiling broadly. She was all done up just to see Sheldon. Penny had filled her in on last night's happenings and her realization that she had "maybe just a little tiny crush" on Anne's cousin. It had made Anne laugh, she never thought anyone other than her had enough patience and a big enough heart to love Sheldon Cooper. She was thrilled to find out she was wrong.

"Did yah find any books he might like? I know none are very science-y…" she walked over to the bookshelf and crouched down to the bottom shelf. "Well, except for this one, but I don't think he needs it." She held up a book titled, _Life, The Universe and Geeks: How to Understand 'em._ Anne burst out laughing for the second time that day.

"I bought this a couple'a days after I moved in here and met Sheldon and Leonard and the rest of the gang," she smiled at it and put it back on the shelf.

"Did it help?" Anne asked through laughs.

"Of course not!" Penny exclaimed and laughed too. When they stopped Anne held up the book she found.

"I highly doubt he'll like it but I don't care! It looks good to me and he's desperate. He'll live."

* * *

"I'll live? What do you mean? Anne, this book is for a teenage girl!" Sheldon exclaimed as he held up the book.

"Oh, quit whining you big baby!" Anne sat down in the chair by his bed. "You said you were bored, so you can read this!"

"It's actually pretty good," Penny chimed in and walked over to him. She took the book from his hands and flipped though the pages. "It's not that long either, you'll be fine sweetie."

"That's easy for you to say…" Sheldon pouted and the two women rolled their eyes.

"You're impossible," Anne sighed.

"You always say that! There's no way I'm impossible, I'm right here!" he replied in his matter-of-fact tone of voice.

"Sheldon it just an express—oh never mind." Penny giggled and handed the book back to him. Sheldon set it down on the bed next to him.

"Penny, you were going to tell me what you said to Leonard," Sheldon looked up at her with his wide blue eyes. This was Anne's cue. She got up and said, "I'll be back in a little bit. I'm gonna get some lunch from the cafeteria," she waved and left the room. Penny looked down at Sheldon and wished there was an easier way to tell him, like she could hint at it or something, but she knew she'd have to spell it out for him. She sat down in the chair next to him and took a deep breath. She felt so stupid for some reason, like this was a really bad idea, but she ignored that thought. She wasn't chickening out now.

"Sheldon, I said something I didn't mean to. It just kind of slipped out, and if I don't tell you then Leonard will. So here we go. I said I loved a stupid whackadoodle, you… Sheldon, I think I love you."

**A/N first thing's first: I haven't watched the show in a while so I honestly don't remember if Penny even has a bookshelf in her apartment. If she does, then yay! But if she doesn't, then let's pretend she does and it's against the fourth wall that we don't see! :) **

**Another thing, I want to make it clear that I like the actor that plays Leonard, Johnny Galecki. He's a pretty cool dude! Someone thought that when I said I don't like Leonard I also meant that I don't like Johnny. Not true!**

**And only one apology tonight, sorry there haven't been any Howard or Raj scenes. I think it's sort of hard to write them, idk why. Oh well, I'll write them in for the next chapter.**

**Lastly, thank you all for the amazing reviews! They are wonderful and inspire me, so please keep them coming! Thanks for reading! :)))**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N I do not own the quote from whatever that book was (the truth about forever, I think) and I don't own the one that's in this chapter. (that's why it's a quote...) :) Anyway,**

**Chapter eight/nine**

"That was sarcasm, right?" Sheldon asked Penny. She considered her reply carefully. He had just presented her with the best escape route imaginable. She could say it was sarcasm and be done with the whole thing, and maybe her feelings for him would go away. But she didn't really want them to go away. And she didn't want to lie to him. But now she was regretting telling the truth. _Damn it, Penny! Why did you ever think this was a good idea?_

"I don't know, Sheldon. I don't know what that was." She decided that honesty would be the best route in the end. "It was what I said, that's all I know. So I guess that was pretty dumb, huh?"

"On the contrary, I appreciate that you told me the truth about what you said," Sheldon replied. This made Penny smile, Sheldon could always unintentionally make her feel a little less uncomfortable. What would have happened if he reacted differently? She didn't think about it.

"You're welcome, sweetie. I wish I had a more logical thing to tell you but I'm not sure anyone's got a logical explanation for love." Sheldon opened his mouth to try to explain chemical reactions that cause the feeling of love but Penny wasn't ready to sit through that. "_Don't_ start!" she told him.

"Fine," he picked up the book she had brought for him and opened it. He read the first line he saw out loud: "There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment." He turned towards Penny slowly.

"That's sort of how it was like last night," she muttered as she looked at the floor.

"Or maybe how it'll be like now?" Sheldon suggested and Penny looked up at him, puzzled.

"Are you proposing one of your experiments?" she asked him and tried to hold back a giggle. He nodded.

They leaned in and pressed their lips softly together, approximately two seconds before Anne and Howard walked in the door.

* * *

"Hi, Howard!" Anne spotted the engineer as he entered the hospital. As they walked towards each other Anne prepared herself for whatever greeting he might have. Penny had told her to be ready for cheesy pickup lines and foreign languages. Anne wasn't worried about the language bit because she had been taught by Sheldon and herself how to speak six languages fluently. She _was_ however, worried about the pickup lines.

"Bonjour, mademoiselle. Vous avez l'air merveilleux aujourd'hui!" he told her she looked wonderful.

"Merci…" she replied. "So, yah here to see Shelly?"

"I had to come to see if they had any news about when he might be able to get out of here. Raj won't stop asking me if I know yet." Howard began to walk in the direction of Sheldon's room.

"Wait!" Anne stopped him. She couldn't let him walk in there while Penny was telling Sheldon what she had said! She had to do something, anything! "I was uhhh, going to go grab something to eat from the cafeteria, wanna come with me?" She really didn't want to have to talk to Howard for too long, but she had to.

"Of course, who would I be to let a—"

"That's enough fancy talk, Howard. Just talk to me like a normal human being, alright?" she smiled sweetly at him.

"Alright," he replied and they walked along the halls to the cafeteria making small talk. Howard's phone beeped from inside his pocket and he looked at it. "Ughhh…" he typed something on his phone and the put it back.

"What was that about?" Anne asked.

"Raj says he needs to go to the grocery store but he can't drive himself because the pain medication bottle says not to." Howard rolled his eyes.

"You must really care about him," Anne commented. Howard looked confused. "You do all of these things for him. It's sweet!" she told him.

"Oh god, not you too! Please don't tell me you think we're in a homosexual relationship!" his eyes were begging her.

"I never said that…" Anne replied, but she totally thought they were.

"Thank you!" he exclaimed. "Anyway, I have to go take Raj to the grocery."

"But we haven't even talked to the doctor yet!" Anne exclaimed, forgetting about Penny's plan.

"Oh yeah, that's right…" they walked to Sheldon's room and got wrapped up in a pointless conversation that made Anne _completely_ forget to stop Howard from opening Sheldon's door without knocking. She was supposed to warn Penny. _Whoops!_

Howard and Anne burst through the door and saw-for just a split second-something neither had expected to see. They were _kissing!_

"What…the…hell…" Howard murmured. Anne was speechless. "Wow…" she finally muttered.

**A/N sorry this chapter is so short… I've had writer's block so I started working on another ff and got a little carried away with it. I won't abandon this one, though. I promise!**

**Thanks for reading, I'm not sure if there's much to review here… but if you can think of something to tell me, then by all means, do tell! I'm open for suggestions. :) **


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N I just noticed that in chapter five, when Anne solved out that equation, it was supposed to say I (heart) u. (You know, like the heart you write when you are texting.) Instead it says 'i3u' and that makes no sense… sorry! :/**

**Anyway,**

**Chapter nine/ten**

Howard knocked on Raj's door and waited for a second before it opened. Raj smiled at the sight of his best friend and let him in.

"How did it go at the hospital?" Raj asked.

"Well… it was interesting. I chatted with Sheldon's cousin for a bit before we walked up to Sheldon's room..."

"That's nice," Raj grabbed a water bottle out of the refrigerator and offered it to Howard.

"Thanks, buddy. But, uhmm…" Howard to the water bottle and studied how the light shined through it.

"Yeah?" Raj opened his own bottle of water and started drinking it.

"When Anne and I walked into Sheldon's room he was… well he and Penny… they were kissing." Raj spit out his water and started choking. "DUDE…! What the hell!" he coughed out as Howard rushed over to him.

"That's what I said!" Howard made sure Raj was okay before he grabbed some paper towels and cleaned up the water from the floor.

"So, Penny was kissing Sheldon on _purpose?_" Raj confirmed, still in shock.

"I guess so," Howard shrugged. "I didn't stay very long after that. It was a little creepy, as you can imagine."

"Wow…" he sat down and looked out the window. "What is this world coming to?" he asked no one in particular. This made Howard laugh and he threw away the paper towels.

"Ready to go, now that you made me clean the floor?" Howard asked jokingly.

"I didn't _make_ you do anything!" Raj exclaimed as he walked towards the door and his friend followed close behind.

* * *

"I didn't see that coming, I'll admit it," Anne told Sheldon. Penny had left to go to work at the Cheesecake Factory.

"Honestly, I didn't either," Sheldon replied. "I had considered the idea of Penny and I together earlier, but I came to the conclusion it would only happen in a parallel universe. I suppose we-" Sheldon was cut off by a nurse walking in the door. She was the one who had been checking up on him lately. Her name was Gina. "_Again?_" Sheldon asked her exasperatedly.

"Shelly, don't be rude!" Anne scolded him and pinched him. The nurse snickered.

"I see Mrs. Cooper has left," the nurse named Gina commented. She was referring to Penny, something everyone kept forgetting.

"Yes, she had to go to work," Sheldon replied after a moment.

"Are you just coming to check up on him?" Anne asked Gina, referring to her cousin.

"Actually, no. We need to give him a different type of medication now, it will help the burns." She started preparing a needle. "Oh, and I'm supposed to warn you, it might make you a little, uhh, loopy," she told them.

"Uh oh." Anne knew this wouldn't be good. Anything that made a normal person a little loopy made Sheldon a lot loopy. This could end badly.

Gina seemed content with the needle she was working with and walked over to Sheldon's side. She cleaned off a spot on his arm with an alcohol-soaked cotton ball. As she stuck it into his arm he wrinkled his nose. He hated needles when he was little. Anne could remember him lecturing her about the importance of shots, but how there should be a less painful method than needles.

"All done!" Gina said. "If you need anything, either of you, just press the little call button there," she pointed to a button on the wall. She must've said that because of the special medicine. _Great, this is gonna be fantastic, _Anne thought.

Gina left the room and Anne looked over at her cousin. "You've gotten much better at tolerating needles!" she tried to get a conversation going. She wanted to visit with the normal Sheldon for as long as possible.

"I grew up, Anne. And you did too, I'm assuming. You're not still scared to death of arachnids, are you?"

"Of course not!" she lied. "When you went off to college I didn't have my Moonpie to get rid of them for me. I had to fend for myself!" she said dramatically and they laughed. Anne used to act dramatically like that all the time and it would always make him laugh. She was relieved she still had it in her.

"What did _you_ end up going tocollegefor, AnnaBananana?" Sheldon's words started slurring together and he wasn't making any sense. _Wow, that medication takes affect real quick! Alright, here we go…_ Anne prepared herself for whatever he might say next.

"Anne, is the room spinning or is it just me?" Sheldon put a hand to his head and started swaying back and forth. Anne stood up and gently nudged him to lean back and lie down.

"Nope, it's just you Shelly. C'mon 'n lay down alright?" She pulled the covers up to his shoulders and tucked him in. "Cozy?"

"Mhmmm…" he replied.

"Try 'n go to sleep, okay?" she smiled and he closed his eyes. She started to walk away.

"Anne, wait." She turned around and his bright blue eyes were wide open again. "Stay with me?" he started to sit up.

"Alright, Moonpie. I'll stay." She tucked him back in and combed his hair with her fingers. "Nighty, night, Shelly," she whispered. She kissed him on the forehead and sat on the bed next to him until he fell asleep.

* * *

Leonard glanced at his watch as he entered the hospital. 8:14. He only had sixteen minutes before visiting hours were over, but he needed to talk to Sheldon. He needed to get everything clear in his head, and only Sheldon could help him do that.

The receptionist lead him back to Sheldon's room and he entered. Sheldon was asleep in the hospital bed, he had been tucked in neatly. He looked over and saw Anne had fallen asleep in a chair next to his bed. Her bright pink heels had been kicked off her feet and lay on the floor next to her purse and brown leather jacket.

He saw how much they looked alike. They both had pale, flawless, skin. Anne's hair was a little reddish, but it still resembled Sheldon's. And when their eyes were open, they were almost the same color, Anne's had little tints of green, though. Both were thin, but Anne was pretty short, unlike her sky scraper of a cousin. Anne was actually really pretty… _stop it, Leonard. That's Sheldon's cousin. That's just weird…_

Leonard walked over to Sheldon and whispered his name. He didn't respond, so Leonard poked him.

"Danger! Danger!" Sheldon exclaimed, and shot into an upright position. Anne blinked her eyes open and looked over at the two men.

"Jesus, Shelly! Do you have to shout like that?" she asked sleepily.

"Leonardwokemeup!" He was still talking funny, this time he noticed and started laughing. "didyaherethat?" he covered his mouth with his hand and laughed again.

"Oh, Lord…" Anne sat up.

"What's wrong with him?" Leonard asked. He was watching Sheldon carefully, he seemed amazed.

"The nurse drugged him. I was hoping it'd go away by the time he woke up." She yawned and pulled herself out of the chair.

"Hey Leonard! Guess what?" Sheldon asked his friend. For the moment being, his voice was normal. Sheldon fluffed his pillow dramatically.

"What is it, Sheldon?"

"I'M BATMAN!" Leonard rolled his eyes. He'd been in this position before when Howard drugged the brainiac. Anne walked over to Sheldon and patted him on the shoulder. She bent down so that she was at eye-level with him and said very carefully, "Sheldon, you are not Batman, you are Sheldon Cooper."

"Sheldon Cooper isn't as fun as Batman!" he complained.

"Yes he is," Anne insisted. "Right, Leonard? Moonpie's a lot of fun!" she turned to Leonard and mouthed the words 'help me!'

"Yeah!" Leonard told his best friend. "Sheldon is the funnest person around."

"Funnest isn't a word, Leonard. But I suppose I can be Sheldon…" Anne sighed. "Sheldon isn't too bad, Sheldon got Penny to ki—"

"SHELDON! NO!" Anne shouted at him. Leonard looked at the two of them and looked hopelessly confused.

"What?" Sheldon looked at Anne. "I was onlygonnasaythatPe—"

"NO, SHELLY!" Anne said again. She put her hands on her hips. "Bad boy! _Bad, bad,_ Moonpie! You keep your goddamn trap shut, alright? Now go to bed this instant!" Anne's voice got a strong southern accent as she yelled at him. Sheldon cowered behind his blankets, "Yes, Meemaw. Sorry, Meemaw," he squeaked out and lied down. He shut his eyes tightly and Anne sighed. She felt a pang of guilt rise inside her and she tried to ignore it. That was the only way she knew how to get him to shut up. She grabbed her heels with one hand and her purse and jacket in the other. She waved for the speechless Leonard to follow her out into the hallway. When they got out of the room and the door was closed, Anne slipped her heels and her jacket on.

"When I was eleven I learned how to yell at him like that, so I sounded just like Meemaw when she got real mad." she told him. She ran her fingers through her hair and her bangs fell back over her forehead.

"What was he going to say?" Leonard asked.

"Oh, nothing…" she started walking down the hallway.

"Wait!" Leonard called and ran after her. "Where are you going?" She turned around and looked down at Leonard. She was about his height when she wasn't wearing the heels, but with them she felt slightly superior.

"Well, I figured I'd go say hi to Penny at the Cheesecake Factory. Maybe I'll get something to eat. Maybe I'll just go to the bar, I don't know yet." She turned back around and continued strutting down the hall. He started following her again and she turned around one more time.

"One more thing," she told him and leaned in closer to his face, "I suggest you come with me. You owe Penny one _hell_ of an apology."

**A/N How'd you like the drugged up Moonpie? ;) I had fun writing that part, I hope you liked it. I've been going around saying "I'm Batman" for about a week now cuz I re-watched that episode and I just had to put it in there.**

**Anyway, I hope you liked it, review if you like! Love you all!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven (I'm just going back to what Fanfiction says…)**

Leonard sat in the passenger's seat of his car as Anne drove them to the Cheesecake Factory. Anne wanted to drive, she had some reason but Leonard just agreed without listening. He was done arguing.

Anne was forcing him to apologize to Penny, and needless to say, he wasn't too excited about it. He knew how fiery the blonde could get, and he was sure Anne could get like that too.

Leonard's phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out. There was a text from Howard. 'hey whas up?' Leonard read. 'going 2 the cheesecake factory, Anne's making me apologize 2 Penny, they're so gonna kill me' Leonard typed and hit the send button. His phone buzzed again and he looked at the newest message: 'LOL' Leonard frowned. 'cant u back me up or something? txt Penny?' he typed and sent the message.

"Who yah talkin' to?" Anne looked over at him. They were sitting at a stoplight.

"Howard," Leonard said flatly.

"Oh, tell him I say hi!" she said as his phone buzzed again. Howard's response said, 'no way. if im gonna b on anyone's side, it'll b Anne's'

'what? Y?' Leonard sent his message and the traffic light turned green.

Howard: 'she's hot! need I say more?'

Leonard: 'wtf! u have no chance with her!'

Howard: 'I have no chance w/ her? O rlly? Ask her!'

Leonard: 'ask her what?'

Howard: 'ask her if she would go on a date with me!'

Leonard rolled his eyes. "Anne?"

"Yes…?"

"Howard wants to know if you would go on a date with him."

"What? Like, he wants to out to dinner with me?" Anne seemed surprised, but Leonard didn't know why. She was quite a looker, and he was sure she knew it. If she knew Howard better she wouldn't be so surprised he was asking her out. The dude would ask any woman out, especially a pretty one.

"Yeah, I guess so," Leonard told her.

"Well… hmm… I don't see why not? He seemed nice after I told him to talk to me normally. How about tomorrow at eight?" she said sweetly. Leonard was shocked. Sheldon's cousin just agreed to go to dinner with Howard Wolowitz, skinny jeans and turtle necks and all. 'she wants 2 know if 2morrow at 8 is good' he hit the send button reluctantly. Howard's response read, 'rlly? She said tht? Ok, 8 it is!'

Anne pulled into the Cheesecake Factory parking lot and chose the closest parking spot. They walked in and a waitress started to lead them to a seat. "Oh, I er, is Penny here?" Anne asked. "Yes, she's working at the bar tonight," the waitress replied and pointed to the bar.

"Okay, we'll go there. Thank you!" Anne dragged Leonard to the bar and they sat down. Penny walked up and smiled at Anne.

"Hello Anne," she said cheerily. "Hello Leonard," she said crossly.

"Leonard came with me to tell you something, didn't yah, Leonard?" Anne elbowed him.

"Yeah, uhmm. Penny, I'm really sorry about last night. I was an ass and I really am sorry." Penny sighed. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to forgive him yet. She still needed some time to be angry. "Want something to drink?" she asked them and held up a bottle of some type of alcohol.

* * *

When Sheldon woke up, he felt funny. His head was spinning and his mouth was dry. But, none of his burns hurt! He sat up and looked over at his bandaged shoulder. He wondered when they would take the bandage off, and when he would get to leave. He knew they wanted to keep him there long enough so that they could make sure he didn't have another seizure…

He looked at the clock on the wall. 4:15 am. In other words, early. He wished someone was there to keep him company. Like Penny. He wished Penny was there. _That sounds…weird. Sheldon Cooper wishes Penny were here with him. _This would take some getting used to.

* * *

"So how did it go with Shelly? Well, obviously good based on what me and Howard walked in on, but still! What'd you say? What'd he say?" Anne asked Penny as they left the Cheesecake Factory. Anne already knew the answers to her questions because she had talked to Sheldon, but she asked again because she was drunk. Penny had cut her drinks off after a couple glasses, but apparently it wasn't enough. Anne was only a little better than Sheldon. At least she didn't pretend to be super heroes.

Penny opened her mouth to talk but Anne didn't see it and started talking again. "Oh, I'm so glad Leonard left an hour ago! He's just weird, yah know?"

"Yeah," Penny lead Anne to her car and opened the passenger's car door. "In you go," she muttered as Anne slipped in the car and shut the door. Penny walked around to the driver's side of the car and got in. She started the car and drove out of the parking lot. _First stop: Anne's hotel._

"So, Anne, how long are you staying in California?" she tried to start a conversation to keep herself awake, dealing with the people at the bar was always exhausting.

"Oh, I dunno! Till Shelly's all better?" she was rummaging through her purse and then finally pulled out her cell phone. She pushed the power button and the screen lit up. She squinted her eyes and started pushing some buttons on it. She started looking frustrated but the screen started getting darker and she seemed satisfied.

"Now," she said to herself, "what was I gonna do…? OH! I remember!" she exclaimed and pushed some more buttons.

"Anne? What're you doing?" Penny glanced over at Sheldon's cousin worriedly.

"I'm texting Leonard. I need to get Howard's phone number from him," she said to Penny, but then started talking to her phone, "goddamn it, no! that's supposed to say 'number' not whatever _that_ says!"

"Why do you need Howard's phone number?"

"So I can text him, of course!" she said and her words slurred together a little.

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Why wouldn't I?" she looked up from her phone.

"Well, it's Howard, for one!" Penny said exasperatedly.

"I know! He's so damn cute! I'll admit the skinny jeans are a bit much, but I—"

"WAIT!" Penny cut Anne off, "did you just say Howard was _cute? _Holy crap, you _are_ drunk!"

"I ain't drunk, what're you talking about? Ah, never mind. But anyway, I need to tell Howard where to pick me up tomorrow!" she looked down at her phone and started typing something again.

"Where to pick you up? You're going on a date with Howard Wolowitz? _The_ Howard Wolowitz?" Penny was shocked, and a little worried. Howard didn't deserve someone like Anne.

"Yeah, but I don't know why. It's not like I'm staying here, I've gotta go home when Sheldon's better. Do you think he just wants to get me into bed?"

Penny sighed. If only Anne Cooper knew Howard Wolowitz they way she did. "I don't know, Anne. When you go to dinner with him, why don't you just ask?"

"Okie dokie." Penny parked the car in front of Anne's hotel and helped her out of the car and up to her room. Sheldon's mom took care of Anne from there. Penny walked back to her car and thought about what Anne had just said. She hoped Howard wouldn't do something stupid with Anne, she was Penny's friend now and she didn't want to see her get hurt. _First thing tomorrow morning, text Howard and tell him to be good. I'll threaten him with my rodeo experience…_

* * *

Anne knocked on Sheldon's hospital door and he told her to come in. It was early afternoon, but Anne's head still hurt from drinking the night before. "Hey there, Moonpie." She had a ginger ale in her hand and Sheldon immediately knew why.

"You went drinking last night, didn't you?" Anne frowned.

"Now, Shelly you don't need to go assuming anything…" Sheldon gave her a knowing look and she plopped down into a chair.

"Okay, you got me!" she set the bottle down after taking a sip. She set her purse down next to it. "This headache isn't helping, either," she told him.

"Of course it's not. How could a headache help anything?" Anne flashed a glare at him.

"You're testing my patience, Shelly." She took another sip of the ginger ale.

"Sorry."

"Have you talked to your 'wife' at all today?" Anne tried to distract herself from the pain in her head.

"She came in earlier today," Sheldon said. "She took that book back and brought me another one… it's not any better, though." Anne laughed. Sheldon was probably wishing he had an encyclopedia instead of one of Penny's books. "We also discussed the kiss that you and Wolowitz walked in on."

"Sorry about that. I just got so wrapped up in our conversation that I forgot."

"It's okay, Anne. We decided that when they let me out of here we will go on a date and 'see how it goes.' Then, maybe I will write up a relationship agreement." He seemed keen on the idea of writing an agreement.

"Sheldon, why do you need to write an agreement?"

"Without guidelines and regulations things will fall into chaos!" he said it like it was obvious. _Oh Jesus, let's hope he doesn't get himself killed for being such a control freak!_

* * *

Anne glanced down at her phone to check the time. "Oh, gosh… I need to go!" Anne exclaimed and stood up. She had been keeping Sheldon company for a few hours.

"Where are you going?" Sheldon looked puzzled.

"I'm going shopping with Penny…" Sheldon was still confused. "I didn't pack anything too terribly nice and I need something nice to wear this evening…"

"Where are you going this evening?"

"On a date…" she bit her lip, "with Howard."

"_What?_ Anne, he's an _engineer_, an Oompa Loompa of science! He's not even a doctor! Good Lord, what's gotten in to you? I do not approve of this!" Anne rolled her eyes.

"I don't care if you don't approve of it, Shelly! And I'm not a doctor either! I'm goin' on a date with your friend Howard, whether you like it or not!" she paused and sat down on the bed next to him. "Look Sheldon, I'm not a little girl anymore. I grew up, we both did," her voice softened.

"I know, but… It's hard to think that you're going on a date. The last time I saw you, you were twelve! Now it's like I'm…" he was at a loss for words, "giving you away!"

"Giving me away? Oh, Shelly," she smiled at him and took his hand in hers. He still had the bracelet she made for him on. "You know, it's hard for me to even _picture_ you liking someone, but guess what, you do! And I'm glad that it happens to be Penny that you fell for 'cause she's a nice girl. But if you're going to be in a relationship you can't control everything! Consider this as practice for letting go, alright?" He didn't look happy, but she ignored it. She stood up and walked to the door. "Bye, Shelly," she said and walked out the door.

**A/N first thing, everyone should say thanks to the user ****Severus-Snape-Forever-Young because they gave me the confidence to make Howard and Anne hook up! :) I was afraid that people who like Bernadette might get pissed at me, but this is written before Bernadette so hey, why not? (I like Bernadette, too btw) so anyway, writing the Howard/Anne relationship should get interesting… and quite funny. xP (and there will be a point to it, it's not totally random, I pinky swear!)**

**I would like to apologize for the fact that I have not put Sheldon's mom in most of these chapters, I'm really not good at writing her so I've been avoiding it…**

**Anyway, thanks for reading! I love getting reviews, please keep them coming! (that review button is so lonely, you need to stop leaving it for the 'exit browser' button!)**

**LUV Y'ALL! Thanks for putting up with these insanely long author's notes.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

Anne caught Howard looking at the waitress's ass as she walked away with their orders. Big mistake, Howie. His eyes moved back in her direction and she moved hers in the direction of some guy sitting at a table near them. Out of the corner of her eye she saw his eyes follow her gaze, and he glared when he saw the guy Anne randomly chose to look at; he was tall, muscular, handsome, and tan. The complete opposite of Howard Wolowitz.

She looked back at Howard, she saw jealousy in his eyes. She knew she wouldn't have to worry about him looking at the waitress's butt again. She smiled at how easy it was to get him right where she wanted him. She was starting to like Howard in some silly twisted way.

"So, Anne," Howard started, trying to make sure that the attention stayed on himself, "what do you do for a living?"

"Well, I'm going to school to be an archaeologist, but I'm paying the bills by being a hairdresser…" Anne wasn't too terribly proud of the latter part of that sentence. She had been avoiding telling Sheldon she was a hairdresser, it was worse than being an engineer by at least six trillion light years or whatever...

"And you're an engineer, right? Shelly told me that," Anne purposely left out the Oompa Loompa bit for obvious reasons. She fixed the Penny Blossom that was in her hair, it was pink and matched her heels.

"Yeah, I'm working on some project's for a coupl'a space ships," he said nonchalantly. "No biggie."

"NO BIGGIE?" Anne was so shocked she almost dropped the hair clip she was fixing. How does being an engineer make you an Oompa Loompa, again? This was huge! "Howard, that's amazing! Space ships, that's so cool! Congratulations!"

Now Howard was the one who was shocked. He had decided that after all his failed attempts to get women by telling them about his job, he would just give up. But now, when he's not trying to impress her, Anne's astonished? That's it, Howard simply didn't understand women.

"Well, thank you." He didn't know what else to say. "No one else ever seemed to care," he admitted and looked down at his lap sadly.

"Well, that's what I'm here for," Anne told him and smiled sweetly. "I'm the one who cares!" Anne had learned how to make someone feel better because of her job. Half the job was just being able to jabber on and on, and she had gotten pretty good at helping people with their problems.

But this was different. Anne _really did_ care this time. She wanted to make Howard feel better, and she felt warmth spread through her heart when he looked up with a smile on his face.

* * *

"Guess what?" Penny asked excitedly. Sheldon sat up a little straighter in his hospital bed and listened to the blonde woman intently. "When they let you out of here, I can be the one to drive you home because…" she looked at him and waited for him to guess.

"Because why?" he responded.

Penny frowned. "Guess!" Sheldon was quite for a moment and then he gave her a slight smile. He knew.

"I got the 'check engine' light fixed!" she exclaimed. He nodded at her proudly. After all the nagging, she finally listened.

"You're making progress," he commented.

"Now it's your turn!" she told him.

"What?"

"It's your turn to make progress. Have you been reading the book I brought?" she crossed her legs and rested her hands on her knee.

"I read a little bit of it…" he avoided her gaze by glancing across the room.

"Sheldon!"

"It's boring, Penny!" as he whined she picked up the book. She opened it up to the bookmark and rolled her eyes.

"Of course it's going to be boring on the third page, Sheldon! You have to read more of it!" he looked at her and she gave him a warning look.

"Fine," he agreed, "but only because you fixed your car."

* * *

There was something about the woman that sat next to him in the car. Something about the way her bangs fell across her forehead, something about the shine in her greenish blue eyes. There was something about the way she spoke, something about how the words rolled off her tongue so smoothly. There was something about her laugh, something about how she wrinkled up her nose and covered her mouth to try to hide her wide grin. There was something about her that he just loved.

She was different. Anne Cooper was different from all the others. That's what he loved.

She was driving Howard home. She said that scooters weren't safe, especially at night. Howard had decided that if she was raised by Sheldon, there was no need to try to argue. Anne would have won the argument before it even started. Plus, he didn't really want the date to be over.

Anne stopped the car in front of Howard's house. "Thanks for the evening, Howard. I had a great time," she smiled at him. They could barely see each other's faces because it was so dark, but he could still see her warm grin.

"Thank _you_, Anne. I had a good time too." Before he knew it she had grabbed the collar of his turtleneck and pulled him into a sweet little kiss. It wasn't long or tongue-y, it was perfect for a first date. When it was over-which was quickly after it began-he saw Anne's eyes squint. "Whoopsie," she giggled and pulled a clean tissue from her purse. "I got my pink lipstick on you," she said and carefully wiped off his lips. They both tried their hardest not to laugh. "Can't be having your momma knowin' I've been kissing you, now can we?" she asked and snickered.

**A/N Anne's got a thing for pink, doesn't she? I just noticed that! Did you notice that? The pink heels, the pink lipstick, the pink Penny Blossom in her hair… Hm. (lol that was a little random, sorry. And sorry this chapter's a lil short, oh well.)**

**Thanks to the user foreverunloved, and my friend who does not have an account on here, but anyway, they helped a lot with this chapter! :) And a special thanks to those of you who review a lot! I love you guys, you are totally awesomesause!**

**I promise the upcoming chapters will be more Shenny filled, I've just got to get there! I had to get past the Howard and Anne date, first :P Oh, and I'm going out of town ****again**** (sigh) so there's gonna be a little bit of a wait before the next chapter gets up. Sorry!**

**Thanks for reading! Luv y'all!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen (this chapter should actually be called 'Catching Up With Anne' because it's all about her)**

"So how'd it go with Howard last night?" Leonard asked as he lead Anne to Sheldon's room.

"It was nice," Anne said and Leonard pushed the door to Sheldon's room open. "He didn't try to get me into bed, which I heard from Penny is revolutionary." She walked over to her cousin's dresser and picked up the cigar box carefully. She wondered how old it was, she knew it was at least thirty years old.

"That is revolutionary," Leonard commented and she glanced up at him. _What…? Oh, he's talking about Howard._

"Yup," she replied simply and walked back to the doorway where Leonard stood.

"Why exactly do you need that box again?" he asked as they walked back down the hallway.

"Well, I figure Shelly's pretty bored, and I'm pretty bored, and we have 18 years to catch up on, and _this_ will be the perfect conversation starter!"' _Wow, that was a long run on sentence…_ Anne decided she needed to work on that if she was going to be writing good archaeology papers.

* * *

Anne walked into Sheldon's room carrying a wooden box. Not just any wooden box, it was a cigar box. The one Sheldon kept memories in, just like Anne had told him to. A grin was painted across her face and she set the box on his lap.

"A little birdie told me you kept this safe after all these years," she said and sat on the bed next to him. "I never told you why that box meant so much to me, did I?" she asked and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Sheldon shook his head.

"Twenty years since I gave this to you… Can you believe it's been that long?" suddenly Anne felt really old. "Twenty years, and you still have it. You've still got my daddy's cigar box." Sheldon's eyes widened in shock.

"This," he said and picked it up carefully, "was your father's? And you gave it to me?" Sheldon never knew it had once belonged to Anne's father!

"Yup. 'Cause I knew you'd take care of it. And I knew you'd fill it with memories. I knew he'd be happy to know that there was a whole box full of our pictures. Meemaw said he loved taking pictures. He never wanted memories to slip away. That's all it is, you know. A memory…" she sniffled a little bit and Sheldon set the box back down. Suddenly it meant so much more. It wasn't just the stupid cigar box that Anne took a liking to anymore. It was one of the few things Anne had left of her father, and she had given it to Sheldon twenty years ago. He had never been grateful for the gift. Not only had he never been grateful for the box, he had also never been grateful to have parents. Anne didn't grow up with a mom and dad. And Sheldon had never told her how sorry he was. He had always, deep deep down inside, felt so sorry for her.

"Anne, I'm sorry. I'm so, so, sorry…" She looked over at him, confused. He shook his head in shame, throughout his whole life he had had what she didn't, and he _never_ had said sorry.

"What are you talking about, Moonpie?" she asked and scooted closer to him.

"I never told you how sorry I am that you never got to know your parents."

"Oh, Shelly…" she pulled him into a hug and smiled as a tear ran down her cheek. "You don't need to be sorry." She kissed his cheek and ruffled his hair. "What would've happened if you hadn't been there for me? What would I be without you? If I can't have my parents then I sure am glad I have you, Sheldon." A smile formed in the corners of his mouth and Anne picked the cigar box back up. "Now, how 'bout we look through these silly old pictures?"

* * *

"Did the doctor tell you anything about when Sheldon would be coming home?" Penny asked Anne as she packed Sheldon's laptop in it's case. Leonard had gone to the university and Penny had to use the emergency key to get in the apartment.

"Yah know, I don't think I have heard one word from an actual doctor the entire time I have been here!" Anne exclaimed and picked up the laptop bag. Her heels clanked against the wooden floor as she walked to the door where Penny stood.

"Well, that's annoying…" Penny sighed and locked the physicists' apartment. "I wish he could come home so I could visit him. Today I had to clean my apartment and I have to leave to go back to work in a half an hour!"

"I wish he could come back here too," Anne admitted. "I love my cousin to death, but Jesus, he can really whine when he's bored. That's why I got his laptop, so he can do something."

"Well, good luck!" Penny said and entered her apartment as Anne trailed down the stairs. _They really need to fix that elevator,_ Anne thought.

* * *

Anne pushed a chair up next to Sheldon's bed and opened up his laptop. "Thanks for letting me use this, Shelly. I have to email my boss and let her know that I'll still be here a while…" she began typing and Sheldon glanced over at her. He was going to ask her what her job was, but she started rubbing her eyes and blinking a lot. She stopped typing and blinked her eyes a couple more times.

"Are you okay, Anne?" Sheldon questioned.

"I'm fine," she said as she reached down for her purse. She pulled out a glasses case and opened it. She put on her glasses reluctantly, the frames were thick and slightly oversized. They weren't geeky or costume-y, and they worked with Anne's face. If Penny had been there she would have said they looked cute, but it was just Sheldon and he had no idea what was 'cute' and what wasn't. All Sheldon knew was that Anne had changed a lot appearance wise in the last 18 years.

"When did you start wearing glasses?" he asked and she started typing again.

"Well, technically, I started needing them when I was nineteen," she stopped typing and glanced up at him. "I don't wear them most of the time because they're annoying, though." The glasses slid down her nose and her eyes went crossed as she watched them. "See? They're stupid!" she exclaimed and threw her hands up in the air dramatically. She pushed them back up her nose where they belonged and went back to typing her email.

Quickly, Sheldon got bored of listening to Anne typing furiously at his laptop. "How was your date with Howard?" he asked. Anne stopped typing again and turned to Sheldon. She pushed the laptop halfway closed and leaned back in her chair.

"It was…sweet… Mostly."

"What'd he do now?" Sheldon asked knowingly.

"Well, I caught him staring at the waitresses ass, but then I purposely looked at some guy at another table. Howard hardly acknowledged the waitress after that!" Anne seemed quite pleased with herself. Sheldon was impressed. Maybe Anne could actually train these bad habits out of Howard…

Anne's phone rung in her purse and she pulled it out. "Speak of the devil," she said jokingly as she looked at the screen. "Hello?" she answered it. Sheldon tried to look uninterested in the conversation, but he was trying to piece it together with what Anne was saying.

"What am I—that's a silly question…! Jeans…no, a blouse, too…" _Good Lord!_ Sheldon thought. Howard just asked what she was wearing! _Of course he did, leave it to Wolowitz. _

"Nope…nothing…that sounds nice…I can't sing, though. Can you…? Sort of?" she laughed. Sheldon had no idea what that part o the conversation was about. Something about singing…where did singing come from?

"Okay, well if you change your mind about that place, I won't care… Okay, at eight again…? Sure… see you then!" she hung up the phone and Sheldon raised his eyes expectantly.

"What?" Anne asked and pushed the glasses up her nose again.

"What was that phone call about?"

"Howard asked me on another date…" she looked confused for a moment and then bit her lip. "He doesn't think I'm staying here, does he?"

"How should I know?" Sheldon asked and a doctor walked into the room. The first official doctor Anne had seen in this hospital.

"Mr. Cooper?" the doctor asked.

"Dr. Cooper," Sheldon and Anne corrected him in unison.

"Sorry…?" the doctor seemed a little thrown off. "Anyways, I was coming in here to talk to you about all of your injuries and when you might be getting to go home." Anne scooted forward in her seat and fixed her glasses as they started to fall again.

"And…?" she asked impatiently and Sheldon seemed a bit impatient as well. It was about time someone knew something for certain around here.

**A/N I reread this entire story about five times before I could write this chapter, and I found some pretty stupid mistakes in there. I apologize for that, I guess that's what happens when I write at two in the morning… :)**

**When Anne was on the phone with Howard and they were talking about singing, it was that "little sushi bar that has great karaoke." The one mentioned in the first episode! (I thought I'd explain that) xP**

**Thanks for reading!**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N Helloooooooo~! Did yah miss me? First thing's first: I'm really, really sorry for not updating in a while. It seems like forever ago that I wrote for the BBT. I have a long list of excuses, the main two being that we found out my sister has epilepsy (so now I'll know what I'm talking about when it comes to Sheldon's seizure) and I got a bit addicted to Hetalia (pasta, anyone?) So yeaahhhh. ;) Oh, and school started! And Doctor Who, too! **

**Anyways, sorry if everyone's OOC. It's been forever since I saw the show or wrote for this… But still, here's the chapter you should have gotten forever ago~!**

"So," Anne started after a long sigh, "you've gotta take an assortment of pain medication, ranging from burns to cuts to your knee to the surgery you went through," she paused again and counted that up on her fingers.

"Yes. And really, God knows what that'll do to me," Sheldon frowned.

"And then you've got the meds that'll make yah heal faster, so that's a total of five pill bottles to take home!" Anne gave her cousin a fake smile before continuing, "Then we've gotta do some shit with that shoulder of yours," she pointed at it. He glared at it.

"How am I supposed to write on my grease board with this?" he motioned at it and Anne rolled her eyes. Of course that's all he cared about.

"I dunno, Shelly. You'll think of something, I'm sure." She glanced down at her watch and frowned. "The nurse should be in here by now."

"I swear, Anne. This hospital must have a policy about moving slow; first they're half an hour late to give me pain medicine, next they wait until I'm in here for _days _before we see a doctor, they never give dinner when I tell them to, and now the nurse is late just to tell us about my random seizure! You'd think they were all snails or something!" Sheldon exclaimed with a huff.

Anne was a bit taken aback by his outburst and she didn't even realize that her glasses had fallen to the tip of her nose. They slipped completely off and onto her lap, where they slid down and off her knee before she could stop them. They hit the ground with a rather loud _clank _and she cringed. "Dammit," she muttered as she peered down at the floor. She didn't see them. _Shit, where'd they go?_ she asked herself and pushed herself out of her chair. She got down on her hands and knees and looked under Sheldon's bed, where she found them taunting her all the way in the corner. How her glasses could get all the way back there was beyond her.

"Anne, what are you doing?" Sheldon called when she was almost completely under the bed.

"Getting my… Glasses…" she reached as far as she could and her fingers finally came into contact with the black frames. She put them on her face triumphantly and began pulling herself out from under the bed. When she was almost out, she heard the door to Sheldon's room open. Someone stepped in.

"Mister Coo-"

"DOCTOR!" she corrected. "Jesus Christ, he's a _doctor_! How many times do I need to tell you hospital people that?!" Anne said angrily from under the bed.

"And who might you be?" she heard the voice ask. She pushed herself out from under the bed fully and up onto her hands and knees again. She was still facing away from the owner of the voice, so she turned herself around, only to come face-to-face with a pair of khaki-wearing legs. She craned her neck and looked up at the person she was talking to. God, he was _tall._

"I'm his cousin!" she exclaimed and began to pull herself up. He offered her help, but she refused it. She didn't need Mr. Tall Person's help, she needed him to tell her what the hell was wrong with Shelly.

"Well, er, anyways," the nurse said. This made Anne snicker on the inside. _Ha, made yah discombobulated! _she thought triumphantly. She loved messing with big important people for some reason. It was like it reminded them that she could be big and pushy, too.

"I'm here to explain what's wrong with _Dr. _Cooper," the nurse guy said, then looked at Anne, who nodded in approval.

"Get on with it," Sheldon-who had been remarkably quiet until then-cut in. "Friggin' snail…" he said under his breath. The nurse didn't seem to notice, but Anne did, causing her to smile a little.

"Right," Mr. Nurse Person said. "Luckily, Dr. Cooper, you won't have to have an MRI or an EEG. The seizure you experienced was caused by a sensory overload to your brain. When you woke up and remembered everything, it was basically too much for your brain to handle. So, you won't have to worry about epilepsy or anything."

"Well, it seems that's one of the _very few _things that aren't wrong with me…" Sheldon muttered.

"At least you didn't have any broken bones," the tall nurse told him a but impatiently. Sheldon didn't respond, but Anne could tell he was thinking something like 'yeah, yeah, whatever. Just go away.'

"Is that all?" Anne asked for her cousin. Mr. Nurse nodded and said good day before leaving.

"Well _he_ was pleasant," Anne said sarcastically.

"Not really," Sheldon replied, not noticing the sarcasm. "Have you talked to Penny recently?" he asked. She grinned. Sheldon was asking about Penny! How _cute_!

"I had to when I got your laptop. She said she wished you could go back to your apartment already."

"Ah." That's all he said.

"Oh, _come on_, Shelly!" Anne whined and fell back into her chair in defeat.

"What?" he asked, a little alarmed by her dramatic fall.

"That's all you're gonna say about her? Sheldon, you _kissed _her! _You _kissed _her_. And that's all you're gonna say?"

"What else would I say?" he asked, still clueless. She rolled her eyes and waved her hand dismissively.

"Never mind…" _Lord help him when he gets out of this hospital and actually goes on a date with her, _Anne thought.

* * *

"You know, everyone freaked out when they saw you," Penny said into her cell phone.

"What do you mean?" Sheldon asked. It was past visiting hours, so Penny's only way to communicate with the physicist was through phone.

"When you were still knocked out from all those drugs and everyone saw you for the first time!" Penny told him, and sat down on her couch.

"Why would they 'freak out' when they _saw _me?" he asked. She rolled her eyes.

"You were in a _car accident,_ Sheldon." No response. "You're covered in scratched and cuts!" she finally exclaimed.

"Oh…" he fell silent again. "I am?"

"Sheldon, are you saying you haven't looked in a mirror since you got to that hospital?"

"That's precisely what I'm saying, Penny," he told her. She felt her face meet her palm.

"Leave it to you," she muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked defensively.

"Oh, nothing. Look, why don't you just ask one of the nurses to bring you a mirror?"

"Okay." Penny was a bit surprised that he didn't find some reason to argue. She heard him ask one of the nurses, and then a 'thank you.' Apparently someone was getting one.

"Good Lord!" Sheldon exclaimed suddenly. Scratch that, apparently someone _gave _him a mirror. "I look like I was attacked by a rabid animal!" Sheldon said. Penny laughed; she could _so _see Sheldon's shocked face. It was hilarious even if it was just in her head.

"Oh, sweetie! It's really not that bad _now_!" she told him reassuringly.

"You mean it was _worse _before?"

"No, well. Yeah, but-"

"Oh, god! What are you _saying_?"

Now Penny was cracking up. Never before had she seen him this upset about what he looked like. "Calm down!" she said between laughs. "What, are you afraid that you won't get respect from people at the university if you're covered in scrapes and scars?" she asked teasingly.

"How many highly respected scientists have you seen that look like I do now?" he replied.

"Well, none, but-"

"Exactly."

"Sheldon, sweetie, just be glad you're okay. You could've _died _in that accident. Then you'd have _no _respect from _any_ scientists, 'cause you'd be dead. Just be thankful you're alive. I am."

"I guess you're right," he admitted.

"Of course I am. I'm always right!"

"That's debatable."

"Shut up!" she said half-heartedly. God, she missed him.

**A/N okay, so that's it! Sorry again if it wasn't that good or if characters weren't in character. I've been role playing for like, four days straight, so when I talk it always sounds funny. I was afraid I would accidentally use my America accent from Hetalia while I was writing ^^ LOL! (if you haven't seen that show, you should totally check it out!)**

**Anywho, hopefully I'll update again soon, but with all the crazy stuff going on in my life right now I can't guarantee anything…**

**Anyways, thanks for being patient, luv y'all!**


	15. I love you all so much Thank you

WOAH BRO!

21,297 views! Thank you all so much!

But...I have something to break to you guys...

I'm discontinuing this story.

I have completely _lost _my ability to write for these characters. I've been writing fanfictions for other fandoms on a new account, and I've been writing some stuff with some of my OCs and... my inner BBT fan just sorta fell apart.

I'm so so so so so sorry.

Thank you all so much again for following and reviewing and encouraging me. I really appreciate it so much and I really love you all but I just _can't write for this anymore._

Thank you for being understanding. If you want to get my username for my other account, just PM me, but it won't have anything for TBBT on it.

~Annika (tanakahal)


	16. NOT A NEW CHAPTER but please read

**A/N:**

To the people who still get emails about this story because it's on your alert list: sorry, no, this is not my great announcement that I will continue this again. I'm sorry. I'm so done with this story. You have no idea. But I will say thank you again for sticking through it with me. I really do love every one of you.

Now, this is where it gets a little interesting, and I'm sure you're wondering: "If she's not continuing the story, why post this whatever this is?"

Here's your answer, everyone. A Guest review is what brought me back.

I know it sounds childish to make such a big deal about this, but believe me I have thought this through many times over and I really would like to speak to the reviewer, however they were simply a guest and this is my only way of speaking to them. And I would really appreciate other people reading this, too (even if it has nothing to do with _The Big Bang Theory_).

I'm not sure if the review is still there to see (my internet has been acting wonky and it won't let me go to certain pages on ). It was full of good ol' criticism, which I'll be honest, I don't take kindly to. I'm a very proud person, and I'm not all that proud of it but it's who I am and I cannot change that, nor will I attempt to.

Now, please try to understand this for one second: I'm not trying to be a big cry baby. I'm not trying to stir up drama where it does not belong. Mostly, I feel as if I'm Prince Zuko from _Avatar: The Last Airbender_ and I'm trying to regain my honor. (If you don't understand the reference, just ignore it). So please, listen to what I have to say and understand that I am not trying to attack the reviewer. I just simply cannot sleep without doing this.

Okay, so. Moving right along.

The reviewer started with the fact that I could have just left the new account at the bottom. And yes, I totally could have done that. But not everyone would want it. I mean, they'd probably get to it and be like 'ew she turned into a Hetalian and a Homestuck gross' (not trying to offend, but that's what I get from the majority of the people who know I like that shit). So no, I didn't put the new account down. So I will say it again: if you want it, then PM me. It's not that hard to type 'what's your new account?' And I have gotten some people asking for it, and I would like to point out that they have all been very kind and gosh you people are nice.

The second point was that the story wasn't that good: I can agree with you there. That's the entire reason I stopped it. I honestly think it's a piece of shit, but it was one of the very first things I actually enjoyed writing. It was also kind if an experiment for me- it started without me even thinking it through. I take pride in the fact that I even tried it because let me tell you, my writing has gotten extremely better because of this. Because I started here. Every great artist starts somewhere (I'm not calling myself great, believe me). This was just my starting point.

There were lots of mistakes: oh hell yes there were. I think now is a good time to mention I had just turned 13 when I started this thing. And I'll be honest: I hated English class at that time. I didn't understand it, I didn't _want_ to understand it, and I pretty much doodled every day instead of paying attention. This story was doomed before it started. But I will point out that since then I have began paying attention in class and I do take interest in English now. I do see the importance now and I do understand the rules and such. I've gotten better. That's why I made a new account: I couldn't stand to see something I was actually proud of going next to something I was using as a muse (this). Now, I still don't have a beta, so the stories on the new account are not perfect either, but they are a million times better in terms of mistakes, and I am proud of myself for learning from everything in this story. But in the end, yes, this story had _major_ editing problems.

And if you thought about quitting, dear Guest, I really don't blame you. I was awful in terms of update schedules, some chapters literally went nowhere, and I put off a lot of things and sometimes it was more than obvious. So if you had quit, I wouldn't have been surprised.

And the guest's last point: "You should have summarized..." Oh, Guest. How I would have loved to be able to do that for you, and for the rest of the lovely people who stuck with me through this. I do hope you and everyone else realizes that it was _painful_ for me to write that note saying this was done. I didn't want it to be over, really. But I didn't have a plot line for this story to begin with. Each chapter was just me going 'blah blah blah... Oh what about this? What if this happened? Okay! Blah blah blah...' Seriously. That's all that was happening in my head. So no, Guest. I _couldn't_ summarize what was going to happen. I couldn't and I don't think I ever will be able to tell you that.

Thank you so very much for listening, and again I am _not _trying to attack the guest reviewer. I simply wanted to explain myself-not only to them, but to all of the people who have ever read this story. Again, thank you. I really do love and appreciate you guys more than you'll ever know.

-Annika


End file.
